Princess Le'an and Xiao Niangpi went to pay for a house.
Yang Fan and Gong Yonggu were smoking in a pavilion by the river.
Now, the cigarettes from Xincheng Cigarette Factory have been officially launched. They are produced using manual cigarette rolling equipment. Each hundred cigarettes are packed in a tinplate cylinder.
Today's cigarettes are not cheap. They were a luxury item in the Ming Dynasty. A barrel of cigarettes costs one tael of silver. On average, each cigarette costs one cent. At this price, you can buy thirty kilograms of cornmeal.
"General Yang, I admire you very much. Since you became an official, you have fought for power and eunuchs, quelled bandit rebellions, pacified the Mongolian tribes in southern Mongolia, and annihilated the Zhenglan Banner. You have reversed the decline of the Ming Dynasty for a hundred years and given our country a chance to rejuvenate.
Weather." Gong Yonggu bowed and saluted, and said very seriously.
"You don't have to be like this, Prince Consort. Yang Fan just did something that all the people with lofty ideals in the Ming Dynasty wanted to do. It's nothing." Yang Fan quickly avoided it. It was inappropriate for him to receive such a gift from a member of the royal family.
Yang Fan knew that Gong Yonggu admired elegance and liked to collect ancient books and Yi utensils. He was a close friend of Liu Wenbing, the cousin of Emperor Chongzhen.
Liu Wenbing was cautious and kind, and did not make friends casually. He only made good friends with Wanping Tai student Shen Zhanran, civilian Huang Nilu, and Prince Consort Gong Yonggu.
"I am always a little confused when I study. I wonder if General Yang can help me solve my confusion."
Yang Fan was stunned. He didn't expect that Gong Yonggu would actually ask him for advice. He was not a scholar. He had been in the Ming Dynasty for so long and had never read a single book by a sage. In fact, he was almost as illiterate.
"Brother Gong is laughing at me. Yang Fan is a rough man. He is just a rough man in writing. When it comes to reading, the book really recognizes me. I don't recognize the book." Yang Fan said with a somewhat embarrassed smile.
"Brother Yang, there is no need to be too modest. After studying for ten years, I discovered that real knowledge is not found between the lines, but is understood in the heart. The so-called insight into worldly matters is knowledge. If Brother Yang can achieve things that ordinary people can achieve, he must have insights that are far beyond ordinary people.
.Perhaps you can explain it to me."
Yang Fan smiled bitterly and said: "Brother Gong, please tell me. As long as I know anything, I will tell you frankly."
"Brother Yang, where does the wealth in this world come from?"
Yang Fan was stunned. He didn't expect that Gong Yonggu, an orthodox scholar, would ask this question.
"Wealth comes from labor and production. Just like farmers get food from farming, and craftsmen make useful utensils." Yang Fan replied casually.
Gong Yonggu nodded, and Yang Fan's answer was the most common answer. There was nothing surprising. The wealth in the world was indeed created by farmers and workers.
"Wealth has been created, but how has it been distributed throughout the ages?" Gong Yonggu then asked.
Yang Fan became serious this time.
He knew that the previous words were foreshadowing, and Gong Yonggu would never talk nonsense to him. But he did not expect that Gong Yonggu would ask such a profound question.
Yes, the wealth created by farmers and workers in China since ancient times is based on what principles and how it is distributed. This is a question full of mystery.
Many people live in a confused life in society and never make money. They just don't understand the rules of wealth distribution.
Therefore, wealth can never come into your own hands. Only by knowing how wealth is distributed can you find a way to get a share of the pie and become a successful person.
Yang Fan clasped his hands behind his back and fell into deep thought.
Gong Yonggu looked at Yang Fan deep in thought and stood quietly behind him without saying a word.
This problem has troubled Gong Yongji for a long time.
After careful and careful consideration of all the problems faced by Ming Dynasty today, he felt that there was a problem in the distribution of wealth.
Those who produced wealth were unable to distribute the wealth and starved to death one after another. This logic was so absurd that he could not understand it.
"Have you read "The Book of Shang Jun"? What do you think of Shang Yang?" Yang Fan felt his fingers burning. He must have forgotten the cigarette in his hand just now and was burned by the cigarette butt. He also woke up.
"The laws of Qin were as complicated as autumn tea, and the network was as dense as grease. It made the people very miserable. I privately believe that this path to its extreme was the root cause of the demise of the second generation of the Qin Dynasty."
Yang Fan nodded and said: "What you said makes sense. This is the common view of later generations of Confucians."
Yang Fan then asked rhetorically: "Zhuge Liang governed Shu, changing Liu Zhang's light corvee and low taxation and giving the people rest. The criminal law was strict, the collection was excessive, and the corvee was heavy, but Shu was governed well. In the BC Yuan Dynasty, the imperial court handed over local affairs to aristocratic families.
It was the government with the least management in history. Why did it die in less than a hundred years?"
Gong Yonggu was stunned. He had read everything Yang Fan said in history books, but had never thought about it in connection with it. This time when Yang Fan compared these things that had happened in history, he was speechless.
"After I dynasty Taizu, expelled the Tartars, restored China, and established a new dynasty, I believed that the fall of the Yuan Dynasty was caused by being too tolerant of the people. Emperor Taizu was famous for his strict laws and systems. Everyone must be classified as a scholar
Among the four peoples of agriculture, industry, and commerce. Those who are not among the four people are called Yimin. Taizu massacred Yimin. Even the people's clothing, food, housing, and daily affairs must be managed, which is more strict than the Qin Dynasty. People are not allowed to leave their hometown for fifty miles, otherwise they will be executed.
But it has been more than two hundred years since I came to power. Why?"
"Well, I'm really stupid, so please ask Brother Yang to clarify." Gong Yonggu opened his mouth, but he really couldn't say anything.
"Actually, Shang Yang's reform, Zhuge Liang's rule of Shu, and the system of our dynasty all have a common purpose. That is to make a profit. That is, no matter who produces the wealth, the distribution must be carried out by power.
Taizu killed the common people and humiliated the merchants because the wealth they obtained was obtained by their own abilities instead of relying on power.
These people are a threat to those in power."
Gong Yonggu fell into deep thought.
This has indeed been the case in China for thousands of years. Social wealth has been distributed based on power.
He recalled his early years of studying and said that Xiao He only bought some poor fields in remote areas, but not good fields.
He said that if my descendants are promising and diligent and thrifty like me, these poor fields will be enough for them to live on. If they are not talented, have no future, and do not have the protection of power, they will not be able to keep the good fields. Instead, it will bring them trouble.
He remembered reading "Han Shu" that as soon as his former cousin Dou Ying lost his power, his new cousin Tian Fu immediately wanted to buy his land by force. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Jia Sidao wanted to buy the princess's land, but the princess was afraid of his power and dared not sell it to him.
he.
"Power is not lasting. A gentleman's glory lasts for five generations. When power is transferred, the wealth obtained by power will also be transferred. It is said that those who understand current affairs are heroes." Yang Fan said.
Gong Yonggu said with shame: "Actually, my family asked me to choose the prince-in-law because they hoped to gain royal protection. This made Brother Yang laugh."
"People in this world just laugh at fifty steps and laugh at a hundred steps." Yang Fan shook his head and said. "The most difficult thing in the world is to eat. In life, there are old people above and young people below. Can the current of the secular world stand firm?
It is already extremely difficult. Who really has the right to laugh at anyone?"
"Brother Yang, I have thought about it repeatedly. Today in the Ming Dynasty, those who work in the fields eat chaff, those who weave mats sleep on earthen beds, and those who sell salt drink soup. Why do the producers of wealth not get a share of the wealth they produce? It is because they have no power.
