"Your Highness, as the crown prince of a country, you should concentrate on learning how to be a king and how to govern a country. How can you be like a businessman in the market and only think about yellow and white things?"
Wang Shouren felt that he should stand up and bring His Royal Highness back to the right path in time, and at the same time prevent Liu Jin from going further and further down the road of making mistakes.
"Brother Liu, you are a Hanlin member of the imperial court. You should be loyal to the emperor and the country, serve the emperor at the top, and seek the welfare of the people at the bottom. How can you do such a despicable thing?"
Wang Shouren still had a very tough temper. Not only did he criticize Zhu Houzhao, he immediately turned around and criticized Liu Jin. His words were very serious, and he was short of directly saying that Liu Jin was unfaithful and unjust.
When Zhu Houzhao heard this, he immediately became angry. You are a small Hanlin. If it weren't for the sake of Lao Liu, who would blame you? When I brought you out, I should have followed you obediently. Listen more and watch more.
Think more, talk less, do less, move less, and you even criticize me.
If you don't make money, where can you spend it?
I hope that the little money and food I receive every year will not be enough to cover my prince's expenses for a few days.
Now Zhu Houzhao has tasted the feeling of being rich. He feels very panicked without any money in his hand. You actually asked me to learn how to be a king and how to govern a country.
He was already tired of hearing these things.
Can the way of a king and the way of governing a country bring money to oneself?
His father, Emperor Hongzhi, had learned this since he was a child. He was so poor that he had to pick and choose everything he could do. During the Chinese New Year, he robbed two million taels of silver from the prince. As an emperor who had been working for ten years, he had no money.
In other words, I have accumulated a million taels of silver, but it is not enough to buy some land by myself.
This is still the case when he only has one woman. I will definitely want three palaces and six courtyards in the future. Not to mention three thousand beauties, I will always ask for three hundred. How can I not make more money? Can I still expect you to give me money?
?
Zhu Houzhao immediately felt unhappy with Wang Shouren. Now even his father supports him in making money, but you, a little Hanlin, have come over to complain.
Liu Jin looked at Zhu Houzhao's unhappy expression and thought to himself, that's too bad. If he had a bad impression of Wang Shouren, then Lao Wang would never be able to reach a high position in the future.
So Liu Jin quickly spoke up and said: "Brother Wang, what you said is wrong. Although Your Highness and I are discussing how to make money, this is actually the way to govern the country, and it is also for the sake of the Ming Dynasty and the people of Limin."
When Zhu Houzhao heard this, his little eyes immediately narrowed.
That's right, that's right. If I, the prince, have no money and live a bad life, how can I have the mind to govern the country? Only when I live a good life can everyone live a good life and have the energy to govern the country.
Still, Lao Liu can speak well, and what he says is nice. Even if it is about making money, it can also be said to be about governing the country.
"oh?"
"I'm all ears."
When Wang Shouren heard this, he immediately looked unconvinced. He felt that Liu Jin was really thick-skinned, but he still humbly asked for advice. After all, the other party was a descendant of an elite.
"Follow me~"
Liu Jin nodded, and then searched around the busy construction site in front of him. He quickly locked on a person and said to Wang Shouren and Zhu Houzhao.
The two of them were confused, and then they followed him curiously.
Soon, the three of them came to a work shed. Liu Jin pointed to a laborer who was working hard in front of him and asked Wang Shouren: "Brother Wang, what do you think he needs most?"
After hearing Liu Jin's words, Wang Shouren immediately became thoughtful. He thought for a while and said, "What he needs most is money."
Liu Jin nodded slightly, without comment, and then said to Zhu Houzhao: "Your Highness, what do you think he needs most?"
Zhu Houzhao was also thinking about this issue at this time. The laborers in front of him were dressed in rags, and he could tell at a glance that they were poor people. For poor people, what do you think they need most?
"I think what he needs is money."
Zhu Houzhao thought for a while and answered the same as Wang Shouren.
"This brother, this brother~"
After hearing the answers from the two men, Liu Jin did not answer directly, but called the worker over.
"The villain Li Shuisheng has met all of you noble people~"
Li Shuisheng didn't have much knowledge. He couldn't help but see that Zhu Houzhao in front of him was His Royal Highness. He could just tell that these people in front of him were all nobles. They had already been strictly prohibited from building palaces in the palace and could only do so. There were activities here in the Qing Palace. Once someone wandered around randomly and was killed by the guards, there would be no room for reasoning.
Because there were too many noble people in the palace, and within the palace, not only were they not allowed to wander around, but they also had to be respectful when meeting people, and not be disrespectful in the slightest. Liu Jin called him brother, but he did not dare to show off.
"Li Shuisheng, where are you from? How is your family situation?"
Liu Jin smiled and nodded, indicating that the other party should not be more formal, and after thinking about it, he asked.
"To tell you the truth, I am from Tianjin. I have two elders and five sons and four daughters in my family."
Li Shuisheng answered respectfully. From his words, we can know that his burden is definitely very heavy. There are two old people above him and nine children below him to support.
"What do you think you need most?"
Liu Jin nodded and then asked.
"Villain... What the villain needs most is a job. With a job like this, I will be satisfied if I can support my family."
What is needed most? Li Shuisheng was also slightly startled. These noble people are really full and have nothing to do. Asking such a question, but think about it carefully.
I need too many things, I need food to feed my family, I need money to build a house, there are too many people in my family, I need too many things, too many.
However, he himself is just like countless ordinary people. Although he is humble, he still needs self-respect and respect from others. This kind of respect is not obtained by expecting charity from others, but by fighting for it with his own hands. , so after thinking about it, he felt that what he needed most was a job like this one.
Although my current job is very tiring and I have to work almost five hours a year, I can still get three taels of silver every month, and I have three meals a day, and every meal is meat.
He had never dreamed of such a job before, but because he participated in the construction of the Tianjin Port and built the Beijing-Tianjin cement road when he was in Tianjin, he was recruited to build the imperial palace and got such a job.
He has already calculated that as long as he can work until the end of the year, he will have enough money to go back to his hometown and build a nice big house so that the whole family can live comfortably and have money to marry his eldest son. .
Now he is regarded as a capable person in the eyes of the villagers, relatives and friends. He can earn three taels of silver a month, and can also participate in the construction of the palace. When he returned to the village last month, everyone looked at him differently.
So he felt that what he needed most was a job, a job that would allow him to live with dignity.
"Work?"
Zhu Houzhao and Wang Shouren were both slightly dumbfounded. They didn't expect his answer to be this.
"Don't you need money?"
Zhu Houzhao thought for a while and asked.
"Of course we need money, everyone needs money, but how much money can satisfy people? People's desires are endless, and money is not everything."
Li Shuigan nodded, and then said: "The villain is from a poor family, so he does need money, but he also knows that only if he earns the money with his own hands can he spend it reliably and with peace of mind."
"Now that I work here, I get three taels of silver every month, three meals a day, and I can do things for today. This is enough."
After hearing Li Shuisheng's words, Zhu Houzhao and Wang Shouren fell into deep thought.
Thirty taels of silver a month plus three meals a day can satisfy him, which shows that if this condition is given to other ordinary people, they can also satisfy it.
"Your Highness, Brother Wang, in fact, the requirements of ordinary people are very simple, as long as they can support their families with their own hands."
"So the way to govern the country is not just to shout from the court to seek the welfare of the people and make decisions for the common people, but it should be to clearly know what the people need and how to let as many people as possible
of people get this need.”
Liu Jin looked at the two of them, thought for a while and spoke slowly.
"Although His Highness and I were talking about how to make money, there is indeed nothing wrong with that. Your Highness and I also made a lot of money from it. But while Your Highness and I were making money, more people were also making money. At the same time,
It also allows more ordinary people like Li Shuigan to get a job with dignity."
"Xishan Coal currently employs nearly 10,000 people, and their income can basically reach three taels of silver a month. This means that 10,000 families like Li Shuigan can live a good life."
"Tianjin Port, Tianjin Shipyard, Tianjin Cement Factory, Tianjin Garment Factory, Miyun Iron Works, Changlu Salt Field, these are all industries owned by His Highness and me. Each industry employs at least tens of thousands of workers, and at most it can employ hundreds of thousands of workers.
With ten thousand people, the income of each worker can reach at least three taels of silver per month."
"You can do the math, because in the industries run by His Highness and I, in terms of recruitment alone, there are at least 100,000 people who can have a stable job like this Li Shuigen, be able to support their families, and live with dignity."
"If it is considered related industries and workshops, etc., it can at least create employment for hundreds of thousands of people, and enable hundreds of thousands of ordinary people like Li Shuigan to get jobs, and behind every Li Shuigan is a family.
"
"You can calculate how many people will benefit from this?"
"Now the labor force needed in the Beijing-Tianjin area is huge. Countless people who were previously extremely poor can support their families with their own hands."
"Because His Highness and I have benefited so many people, isn't this a contribution to the Ming Dynasty?"
"Isn't this the way to govern a country for a king?"
Liu Jin's words were sonorous and powerful, and he straightened his chest when he spoke.