"I will tell you now the reason for the demise of the Sui Dynasty. In my opinion, the Sui Dynasty was not destroyed by Yang Guang, but by Yang Jian. The fundamental reason was the agricultural war."

"Yang Jian? He is the Holy Lord Emperor in the eyes of Confucianism."

"It cannot be said that the rise and fall of a country has nothing to do with the monarch's character and ability, but it is by no means too big."

"Why do I say that the Sui Dynasty died due to the agricultural war? Because the Sui Dynasty was not actually strong. The so-called sage khan was basically a bubble of agricultural war blown by Yang Jian. The bubble burst when Yang Guang came."

"When the Sui Dynasty conquered Nanchen, the country's population was 4 million households, but by the first year of the Great Cause, it exceeded 8.7 million households, and the population more than doubled. Is this population really born? Is it possible that it was born?

Counting those who died young, every family has more than ten children? Isn't this nonsense?"

"In the ninth year of the founding of the Emperor, the Sui Dynasty reclaimed 19.44 million hectares of cultivated land. During the Daye Year, the amount of cultivated land became 55.85 million hectares, equivalent to 4.35 billion acres. Do you think this number is a bit ridiculous?" (In modern society, it is 1.918 billion hectares)

acres, including the Northeast, Lingnan, Western Regions, and Southwest)

"Obviously, this increase in population cannot be caused by births, and this increase in land cannot be caused by cultivation.

When Yang Jian became emperor, he thoroughly investigated runaway households, and hidden fields became the assessment standard for local officials. In the years when he was in power, he almost only did one thing in terms of internal affairs and economics.

We are trying our best to increase the cultivated land and population, but what should we do specifically? We can only do our best to force every common person to farm, and farm all the land that can be farmed. This is an extremely typical Legalist thought on agricultural warfare."

"From this perspective, apart from the Qin Dynasty, the Sui Dynasty was definitely the best in the field of agricultural warfare. Under his rule, there was almost only one kind of people left in the Sui Dynasty, farmers, whose land

It was all arable land, agriculture flourished, and all industries flourished, which was the true meaning of the so-called founding emperor's prosperous age, and the ultimate embodiment of Shang Yang's agricultural war thought."

"However, as the saying goes, too much is never enough. What should I do if it is not enough even if the mountainous and stony fields in the deep mountains and old forests have been turned into cultivated land? Then we can only brag. A large-scale search, unreasonable planning, and a certain degree of bragging. This,

It blew away the 4 billion acres of land owned by the Sui Dynasty."

"Under the land equalization system, as long as you have land in your name, you have to pay taxes. Therefore, how could Yang Guang not expand? My country has four billion acres of land, and I have expropriated it? Why have I expropriated it? I

The tax rate is very low! How can the three conquests of Korea be such a great success? I have 4 billion arable land and a population of nearly 90 million households! My national strength should be far more abundant! This is what Yang Guang is cruel to

basic logic."

"In fact, based on the actual situation when the Tang Dynasty was established, the real cultivated land area in the world was actually less than 600 million acres. Even if the mountainous land was classified as cultivated land, it would not be possible to grow food. Originally, the people still could not grow food.

You can support yourself by working and doing business, but now you are farming, so you are really not far away from starving to death."

"Using 600 million yuan of land to pay 4 billion yuan of taxes, and using about 30 million people to pay 60 million people of tax. This is the real reason for the prosperity of the Sui Dynasty. It seems that the tax rate is indeed not high, but

In fact, the people down there have long been in dire straits."

"That's not all, but Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, Yang Jian, was a diligent 'saint king' who liked to save money but didn't like to spend money. He collected the grain from all over the country and set up a charity warehouse. He collected a large amount of grain and stored it. The grain would rather rot.

They did not distribute it to the people in the warehouse. They called it to prepare for disaster years. Looking at the warehouses one by one, they lamented the power of the Sui Dynasty and were content with the so-called founding of the emperor."

"But there is no such thing as a year of disaster. Under such brutal taxation, the people's life is a year of disaster every year!"

"This makes Yang Guang even more worried. My tax rate is not high, and my father has saved so much money for me. I have so much money and food that I can't spend it all, so I have to think about it.

Find a way to spend so much money! It’s better to spend it than to pile it up in the granary and rot.”

"Yang Guang once said, why were there so many people under the Sui Dynasty? There were too many. I thought that what he said was not necessarily cruel, but that he finally realized something was wrong. The people of the Sui Dynasty,

There are really too many people registered to pay taxes."

"This is just the farming part, the war part is actually worse."

"Yang Jian, he stole the throne from his grandson and became the emperor. Since ancient times, no one has had an easier time than him in plotting to usurp the throne. In essence, the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Sui Dynasty, and Tang Dynasty were all pure Guanlong aristocrats.

regime."

"However, Yu Wenhu is the founder of the Fu Army System after all, and Li Yuan also has 30,000 Taiyuan followers. In other words, they are all the eldest brothers in the Guanlong Group. It is natural for the younger brothers to listen to the eldest brother."

"But Yang Jian, he is no longer an elder brother, but more like a younger brother. He is the unanimously recognized spokesperson for the interests of the Guanlong noble military group."

"So he must appease the remnants of the previous dynasty, which means acquiescing to the Guanlong nobles' blood-sucking of the people. The specific method is to allow the Guanlong nobles to raise slaves and grant permanent land to the slaves."

"The foundation of the government army system is the equalization of land. The common people have their own land. They can obtain rewards through fighting on the battlefield, reduce or even exempt taxes. After dying in battle, this part of the land will always belong to their families. This is a good thing."

"However, although slaves are allowed to grant land, there are restrictions. The highest title can only raise 800 slaves, but there is a huge loophole in this."

"For example, Li Yuan, although he can only raise 800 slaves in name, these 800 slaves will become his private soldiers after being divided into fields. But if they can go to the battlefield and these 800 slaves die, the 800 slaves'

The Yongye Field will not be taken back, it will all go into Li Yuan's pocket, and he still has the quota of 800 slaves, and he can recruit another 800 slaves, and then go and grant the land."

"This cycle goes on and on, as long as these 800 quotas can continue to die, Li Yuan will have more and more Yongye fields, and the tenant farmers who farm for him will become real private soldiers in Li Yuan's hands, under the control of the imperial court.

Less than."

"At this time, for Li Yuan, he really wanted to go to war. He wished he could conquer Goguryeo at thirty. But winning is by no means maximizing his interests. On the contrary, theoretically speaking, if he loses, it is best to kill all the officers and soldiers under his command.

Beating him to death and only escaping back alone would be the way to maximize his benefits."

"This makes it easy to understand why the three campaigns against Goguryeo, a small country, could not be defeated no matter how hard they fought, but the Sui Dynasty was very brave in fighting against the Turks. It was not because Goguryeo was stronger than the Turks, but because the Turks could not defeat it, and the powerful people would really lose their lives.

The Turks are really capable of destroying the Sui Dynasty, but if Goguryeo loses, they will make a fortune."

When Murong Yan heard this, she nodded in shock and said: "When you said this, I finally understood why you said that engaging in politics is dirtier than being a bitch. No wonder Yang Guanghui is building a large building, why is he just building a big building?

The canal can actually kill so many people."

Liu Dapao also sighed, picked up the tea bowl, took a sip of tea to moisten his throat, and said: "This is the shortcoming of the military system. Although the loophole of slave land transfer in the Tang Dynasty was closed,

But the mechanism itself still exists. Although there is no clear title of slave between the common people and the palace master, as long as there is a personal dependence relationship, in actual operation, they can always find ways to bully others.

So in fact, in the later period of Li Shimin's rule, the huge drawbacks of this system also became apparent, and the behemoth Guanlong Aristocratic Group began to devour the foundation of the country again."

"The decline and demise of the Tang Dynasty is a very complicated issue. To explain it clearly, tens of thousands of words are not enough, so I won't go into details with you. In short, the result is that the military system is destined to collapse."

"The government army system is the culmination of Shang Yang's thoughts on agricultural warfare. I guess Shang Yang himself did not deduce the theory to this point, but the consequence was that it not only shaped the prosperity of the Northern Zhou, Sui, and Tang Dynasties, but also led to their demise."

"I personally call this thing extreme militarism. If any militaristic regime wants to exist, it must have a prerequisite, and that is hatred."

"Once there is no strong enough foreign enemy, militarism will enter an endless cycle of tormenting itself, and the ability requirements for the person with the highest authority are too high. Once it loses the blessing of the absolute highest authority,

The backlash will be particularly vicious."

"Then the counterpart to the imperial army system is naturally the recruitment system, but this goes back to the topic we talked about at the beginning. The soldiers in the recruitment system are actually completely opposite to the interests of the country."

"For soldiers, a draw or a defeat, as long as they can survive, is better than a victory. On the contrary, this has caused an extremely huge burden on the court."

Murong Yan frowned and said, "Is there no solution?"

"How could it not be possible? In my opinion, no matter what the military system is, the core of long-term peace and order in the world is to abandon militarism."

"In the final analysis, the original purpose of the theory of agricultural war is to dominate the world. Once the world is generally stable, the idea of ​​agricultural war should be abandoned. I think the only way to solve it from the root is to guide industry and commerce."

"To put it simply, the ruling class of the imperial court and the exploited common people class guide the development of a new exploiting class, that is, the business class."

"Businessmen exploited the people through business, and the imperial court exploited businessmen to obtain state revenue. You must know that commercial interests must be highly tied to political interests in order to survive, otherwise they will be fat, so in foreign wars, or

When a foreign enemy invades, as long as the interests of the country and businessmen are consistent, the businessmen will naturally find ways to make the interests of the people at the bottom consistent with the interests of the country."

Murong Yan thought for a moment and then said: "It's a bit similar to the Two Taxes Law in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, and it's also a bit similar to the salt tax system. It's actually even bigger in the specific operation process."

"The imperial court exploited the people, and at least they knew that they should not drain the lake to catch the fish. The merchants exploited the people and did whatever they could. This issue has been fully discussed in the Salt and Iron Theory."

"Xianliang Literature believes that the country's abandonment of the salt and iron monopoly can reduce the exploitation of the people. In fact, the Western Han Dynasty did so later, but all the profits from the salt industry went into the pockets of powerful people, and the price of salt was even higher than during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

It's more than five times more expensive, but the imperial court has lost a large source of tax revenue, leading to a decline in national power."

Liu Dapao did not refute, but nodded with deep understanding and said: "Yes, in fact, the salt policy of this dynasty is also a big problem. The salt policy of this dynasty was inherited from the middle and late Tang Dynasty. It was an extension of the Two Taxes Law."

"The imperial court sold salt to salt merchants at a higher price, and through laws and regulations, it forced salt merchants not to sell it to the people at too high a price to ensure that the salt bought by the people would not be too expensive."

"Theoretically, this is a way to solve the dilemma. The common people can buy salt at a relatively low price, and the court can receive salt tax from merchants. The same is true for wine tax."

"But in actual operation, the problem is huge. No businessman will be stupid and obey and just make hard money. There are many ways to pass on the cost."

"I wonder how Miss Murong understands the strong chapter in Shang Junshu?"

As soon as he talked about getting rid of the strong, Murong Yan suddenly understood: "Use the strong to get rid of the strong and make them weak, and use the weak to get rid of the strong and make them strong? What do you mean, 'The poor will become rich through punishment, and the rich will become poor through rewards.

Ruling a country can make the poor rich and the rich poor, so that the country will be more powerful, and whoever has more power will be king?"

"Yes, you are very savvy. What this means is that if you use strong people to govern powerful people, the powerful people will only become stronger and stronger. Ordinary people should be used to control the powerful people, and the national strength will be reduced.

Become stronger, this sentence is actually the core idea of ​​the entire article on getting stronger.”

"The reincarnation of strength and weakness proposed by Shang Yang, in my opinion, is the best way to govern a country in ancient and modern times, both at home and abroad. The meaning of the latter sentence is that the country should make the people rich by punishing them.

Make the powerful poor by rewarding them.”

Murong Yan frowned when she heard this and said, "I don't understand this sentence very well. Why do you punish the common people, but they will become rich, and reward the powerful, but the powerful will become poor?"

"Forcing the common people to go to the battlefield through punishment, they will be rewarded for their meritorious service, and they will naturally become rich. If the powerful are given titles and honors, and forced to spend money to buy them, they will naturally become poor."

"Different from normal people's first reaction, Shang Yang's plan is to support Tao Qian, a wealthy private citizen, in buying an official position. His ultimate goal is to hope that poor people will become rich through war, and rich people will become rich through war.

Buying an official position will make you poor, and the poor will become rich through fighting. In this way, a dynamic balance will be established."

"The story about removing power cannot be viewed in isolation. Only the country's administrative procedures are strictly constrained within the legal framework. Even if rich powerful people become rich and powerful by buying official positions, they cannot do evil willfully.

, otherwise it would be meaningless to spend money to buy an official position and then earn back the money spent through corruption. Did you find any loopholes in this closed loop? "

Murong Yan sighed: "If you can live but not kill, if you attack the enemy's country, you will surely destroy it."

"Yes, this sentence means that if the country's accumulated powerful wealth cannot be vented through killing, it will be weakened."

"This is a typical shortcoming of militaristic thinking. Shang Yang is a truly understanding person. To govern the country in this way, in addition to having to clarify the laws, the most important thing is that you must continue to fight and win externally. Only in this way can you

If there are enough official positions or titles for sale, poor people can also become rich through fighting."

"Shang Yang actually has always seen clearly. With this method, when the country no longer has enemies, the accumulated conflicts will break out and the country will be destroyed. So to be honest, I have always felt that Qin Shihuang was the culprit of the destruction of Qin.

, he should not be so eager to unify the six countries."

"Wherever the Six Kingdoms are, the enemy is there. The entire Qin Dynasty was built on the conquest of the enemy. Where the enemy is, the Qin State is there, and it is almost invincible.

But without the enemy, Qin had no need to continue to exist, and it could not survive. Although he attacked the Xiongnu and Baiyue afterwards, it was too far, and it was far beyond the productivity of the time.

This is the upper limit of what I can bear.”

"Returning to my own point of view, I very much agree with Shang Yang's view of de-empowerment. The state's indirect exploitation of the people through industry and commerce is undoubtedly the most appropriate way. Many problems can be solved easily, but how to exploit businessmen and realize the control of the business class

Reducing strength is the real key to my gameplay."

Murong Yan heard this and said solemnly: "Sir, do you have a strategy?"

"I'm looking for it. I am also in business myself, and I am confident that I will become a wealthy businessman in a very short time. However, I have no idea how to become stronger in the future."

"It's definitely not possible to confiscate it directly or rob it by clever means. I don't want to let others rob my hard-earned wealth. If it is robbed by force, only fools are willing to do business, and then they will go back to the old path of scholars, farmers, industry and commerce.

."

"So this must be another old method of replacing businessmen's wealth with political power, but how to replace it and how to restrict the businessmen who turned into politicians after the replacement are all a problem."

Murong Yan said: "It is natural to rebuild the Legalist regime and allow businessmen to be restricted and protected by the law."

"So, who will make this law? In other words, will the emperor be bound by this law?"

"Then there's only..."

"Yes, the real difficulty of this problem is how to formulate a law that can bind the emperor. I call it a constitutional monarchy."

"From a simple point of view, it is undoubtedly the easiest to hand this legislative power directly to the business class. It is nothing more than launching a revolution. The world has been in chaos for so many years, so it doesn't matter. But if this legislative power falls to the business class,

Those who legislate must also represent the interests of the business class."

"In this way, when businessmen obtain political rights through transactions, how can they ensure that they will hand over their economic rights? If this problem is not solved, the world will definitely become richer and the poor will become poorer.

This constitutional monarchy is meaningless."

When Murong Yan heard this, she blurted out: "The power of legislation should be given to Ya Bing."

"What? Ya... soldiers?"

"Yes, tooth soldiers, according to your words, they are the tooth soldier class."

"What the hell is the tooth soldier class?"

Murong Yan smiled with satisfaction when she heard this and said: "Don't you want to ask me why the civil servants cannot suppress the military generals, why the world cannot be truly peaceful, and why the governors of various places and even the emperors of all dynasties have always been suppressed? In fact, this is the answer, the Yabing class

, I actually think that if the business class and the military class can be combined into one, the dilemma may be solved."
Chapter completed!