Wei Renshi found a partner. The next morning, he got up and went to Chongwenguan first, found Liu Zhao and said he had a leave, and then went to the palace.

When we arrived at Zhuque Gate, we passed the news through the guards of the prison. Soon, an eunuch came out and took Wei Renshi to the middle of a garden that we had never seen before.

The winter plum blossoms bloomed all over the garden, and the sun was falling, as if warm spring suddenly arrived, and it was bright and pleasant for a moment.

However, there are not only Li Shi in the garden, but Wei Renshi also saw Li Song and Li Chun.

Wei Renshi walked up, bowed, and said, "I pay homage to Your Majesty, to Your Highness, to Your Highness, to Prince Guangling."

"Wei Qing is not a gift." Li Shi raised his hand and said, "Sit down."

Wei Renshi sat down, and the sun was just sunny on her body, warm.

"I heard what Wei Qing said that day, and I thought a lot. According to what you said, the wealth of a country was obtained from the inside and the outside." Li Shi asked directly as soon as he came up: "It is probably not easy to obtain from the inside now. I was too tired that day, so I didn't finish Wei Qing's speech. Today, Wei Qing will talk about how to obtain from the outside. It just so happened that the prince is here today, so I will listen together."

"Yes, father." Li Song was a little surprised, looked at Wei Renshi, then bowed his head and bowed to Li Shi.

Wei Renshi also stood up and bowed, saying, "I obey the order."

After sitting back again, Wei Renshi said: "I have explained before that the country's wealth is generally obtained from two internal and external channels. In simple terms, the internal channels are mainly tax revenues. However, there are generally two ways to obtain from external channels."

"Which two?" Li Shi looked good at the moment and asked with great interest.

"Trade and war." Wei Renshi replied: "The former is to take advantage of other countries and places other than oneself through foreign trade. The latter is to take advantage of other countries and places other than oneself through external war."

"What?" Li Song frowned and asked, "Why did Wei Sheng say this? He doesn't know much about foreign trade, so let's not talk about it. How could this war be a way to bring wealth? Although the country is big, war will perish. What kind of money can be obtained for war and chaos? Do you know that once the court fights, males join the army, young and strong laborers are charged into the army, and the fields are not cultivated, but the people still have to pay grain and pay taxes, and the burden is even greater. What benefits are they getting? On the contrary, the more disasters of war, the more suffering the people are, the poorer the court, and the more chaotic the world is, how can they have money?!"

Li Shi nodded when he heard Li Song's words and said, "Yes, the prince's opinion is reasonable. I also want to ask Wei Qing, how can this war lead to wealth?"

"Actually, there are ready-made examples around us." Wei Renshi said: "Indeed, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is right. Bad wars will make the country poorer and the people will suffer more and more. But you must know that wars will not only consume wealth, but also bring countless wealth."

"Let's take the nomadic tribes in the north as an example. Why do the nomadic tribes in the north repeatedly go south to invade our borders, killing and plundering? Are the nomadic tribes in the north being idle and moving their bodies? Isn't it because the nomadic tribes in the north can get a lot of wealth by going south to knock on the gate?!"

"If you plunder the males, you can act as slaves when you go back and farm and work for them; if you plunder the women, you can be ravaged by them when you go back and increase their population; if you seize weapons, you can distribute them to the soldiers when you go back and let them plunder more things."

"They went south and defeated them, and they could certainly occupy more land, fertile land, horses, and population... Even if they were defeated, the Central Plains would not only not punish them in order to demonstrate the kindness of the saints, but instead gave them gold, silver, cows and horses, which gained a lot of wealth. It is precisely because they could get so many benefits when going south to knock on the gate that the nomadic tribes in the north did not change their teachings. Everyone on the grassland was willing to fight, attack and rob the Tang Dynasty. Not only was they not afraid, but they were also proud of it. Whoever could plunder more was the war. This is the wealth brought by war to the nomadic tribes in the north. Why did His Highness the Prince say that war cannot bring benefits?!"

Li Song was stunned, widened his eyes and said nothing to refute.

"If you continue, I want to hear how Wei Qing can help our Tang Dynasty gain benefits from the war." This time, without waiting for Li Song to speak, Li Shi took the conversation and asked.

Wei Renshi bowed and bowed: "Yes, Your Majesty. The nomad tribes in the north can plunder, and our army can plunder. If they defeat them, they can plunder a large number of cattle and sheep. These cattle and sheep can be divided into different numbers according to their merits. When the war is over, the military households will unload their armor and return to the fields, and then they can take back several cattle and sheep. The cattle and sheep can plow the fields, fill their belly, make clothes, and horses can go to the battlefield again."

Wei Renshi continued: "There are also the people of the nomadic tribes in the north who repeatedly violate the pass, burn, kill, loot, and commit great crimes. If you don't want to repent, you must not let them go, otherwise you will let the tiger go back to the mountain. So if we don't let these nomadic tribes in the north, don't the people need to perform corvee service? Opening mountains, building roads, quarrying, work, and building... These are all places where the people need to work hard. The people in the north have strong bodies and strong strength. Why can't we use these prisoners to replace the corvee service? The heavy and laborious corve service is handed over to the prisoners, and the people only need to do some less heavy corvee service. In this way, the burden on the people will be greatly reduced."

"The people are rich, with land, and plowing oxen, and don't need to be labor service, so they will really live and work in peace and contentment, and will they still complain? With these benefits, will they still oppose the war in the court? No! The people have gained real benefits from the war, and after tasted the sweetness, they will no longer object and complain. Maybe they will still hope that the court will start a war with whom they will quickly support the victory of the court, and then get the land to him.

We obtained prisoners of war to serve labor service for them. Wouldn’t such a war be more relaxed and richer the more people are beaten. When the people are rich, the country will become richer and the people will become more united with the country. Will such a country still have rivals? Therefore, it will be easier to win. This forms a virtuous cycle. Such a war is a meaningful war, and the war that a country should do! How can such a war not bring wealth?”

"After the victory, aren't the population, land, money and grain taken from the defeated countries... all wealth? We even use foreign wars to claim compensation from the defeated countries through wars. We can regard foreign wars as a lucrative business and transaction activity, encourage the people to invest and support the war, and get dividends after victory." Wei Renshi said.

"This..." The three grandparents and grandsons of the Li family were all shocked. They had never thought that war could still fight like this.

"This is just a war against ourselves. If we don't want to start a war ourselves, then on the premise of having a war advantage, we can use the war between other countries to gain wealth for ourselves and make a fortune in war!" Wei Renshi continued.

"For example, there are two small countries fighting, so we secretly make some moves and make no one of them fights and a stalemate. Then, no matter which side comes, if they want food, they will sell it to him. If you want horses, they will sell it to him. Even if he wants weapons, we can make some weapons that are not as good as those used in our own army. If they don't finish the battle in one day, we can sell it to both sides in one day. In the end, when the two countries fight, our Tang Dynasty will make countless profits."

"These are all wealth and benefits that can be obtained from external wars." Wei Renshi said: "However, you still have to be strong yourself. If you want to obtain wealth through external wars, you must first be strong and not afraid of wars, and be able to win battles."
Chapter completed!