Seeing two well-educated scholars, Lin Yuyang, the left prime minister of Zhongshu, and Yu Ziqi, the right prime minister of Zhongshu, being refuted one by one by a Huangkou boy who was only fourteen years old, the Emperor of Wei secretly exclaimed, "My son is really a genius!"
Zhao Yuanxi couldn't help but look at Zhongshu Ling He Xiangxu. At this time, the Emperor of Wei could not care about asking these three Zhongshu ministers to help reprimand his naughty son. He wanted to see this strange son of his even more.
, can He Xiangxu also be refuted?
If even He Xiangxu, an old minister, could be refuted, this would be a strange story!
Seeing the emperor's slightly narrow-minded gaze, He Xiangxu smiled bitterly in his heart. Of course he understood that the emperor had a childlike innocence and just wanted to watch a good show. But how could the emperor get his wish for such a thing?
Three dignified ministers of the Zhongshu Province were actually dumbfounded by a prince who was nearly fourteen years old. If this spread, all the ministers of the Zhongshu Province would be completely disgraced.
For the sake of Minister Zhongshu's face and his old face, He Xiangxu didn't want to overturn the situation.
He slowly walked up to the Eighth Prince Hongrun and carefully looked at the Eighth Prince whose words and deeds were different from the other princes.
"What a smart and intelligent His Highness..."
He Xiangxu sighed in his heart, stroking his beard and said with a smile: "I have lived in vain for dozens of years. It is hard to say that I have anything to teach your highness. Let me tell you a story."
"Please tell me."
"Once upon a time, someone planted two saplings. One was diligently taken care of, removing weeds from the edges of the tree and pruning its crooked branches. Eventually it grew to a towering height and served as a pillar of the building; while the other sapling failed due to lack of management.
, its branches are thin and curved, so they cannot be used as pillars, but rather as firewood... Your Highness wants to be used as pillars or firewood?"
Zhao Yuanxi, the emperor of the Wei Dynasty, nodded secretly after hearing this.
Unexpectedly, the eighth prince Hongrun tilted his head and looked at He Xiangxu for a long time without answering. He also smiled and said: "My lord, how about I tell you a story?"
"Your Highness, please speak." He Xiangxu was puzzled.
I saw Zhao Hongrun thinking for a moment, then opened his mouth and said: "Let's continue the story of the old man...The towering pillars were finally transported to the palace and became the pillars of the hall. Unfortunately, the other pillars have not yet arrived, and one of them cannot be a building.
.In the cold winter of another year, the trees of this pillar lie silently across the site. Looking at the boxing tree again, the locals cut it down for firewood, and hundreds of people were able to survive this cold winter... Sir, do you want to be a pillar? Firewood?
"
"..." He Xiangxu opened his mouth, but was speechless.
It was originally an excellent fable to persuade the prince, but after Zhao Hongrun added a few sentences, the meaning of the story completely changed. In particular, Zhao Hongrun also pointed out a fact in the story: a majestic tree can indeed become a prince.
The pillars of a building, but the problem is that a single pillar is not enough to build a building. If there are no other pillars, at best it can only be used as a lonely decoration in the selected location, which is useless. On the other hand, the crooked wood, although
It doesn't look very good, but it can provide heating and cooking for hundreds of people in the cold winter, helping them survive the harsh winter.
Which one is higher or lower?
"Ha, it seems that this old face cannot be saved today..."
He Xiangxu smiled bitterly and shook his head.
Although everyone in the palace knew that what the Eighth Prince Hongrun said were all fallacies, the problem was that he spoke these fallacies very clearly and made some sense.
At this moment, the Emperor of the Wei Dynasty, Zhao Yuanxi, was really moved. He thought it was just a joke, but he didn't expect that his eighth son, Zhao Hongrun, actually refuted three highly educated ministers, although it was a trick.
, but this is something that even the sixth son of the emperor, Zhao Hongzhao, has never been able to do.
"The ancestors of the Wei Dynasty have shown their spiritual power. Could it be that this son's talent and knowledge can rival Hongzhao? He is truly a thousand-mile horse!"
Zhao Yuancai sighed with joy in his heart, but he did not show it at all on his face. After all, although Zhao Hongrun refuted the three ministers of Zhongshu, it also boosted his stubborn arrogance of being tired of learning and having fun. How could this trend help?
Thinking of this, Zhao Yuanci snorted coldly, pretending not to care and scolded: "It's all nonsense! The three adults kindly advised you, but you are so reckless, how presumptuous!"
"Father should have said this beforehand. Right now, it is not enough to convince the emperor..."
"Oh?" Zhao Yuanci was happy when he heard this. He touched his chin and said with a strange expression: "In that case, I am here to ask you, do you dare to answer?"
Zhao Hongrun looked up at his father and said with a smile: "If my father never refutes the emperor, will this young father-in-law also stand up and embarrass me?"
"What does this sound like?"
Although everyone in the hall found it funny, they did not dare to speak casually. The old eunuch Tong Xian even waved his hands and said, "How dare you, old slave?"
At this time, Zhao Yuanci frowned and said, "I have one last question. If you can answer it...well, I won't care about your truancy."
He originally wanted to say, if you can answer it, I will allow you not to go to the palace to study, but then he thought about it, Zhao Hongrun is a very weird boy, maybe he can really answer it, so the Emperor of Wei immediately changed his mind.
"That's it?...Okay, Father, let me ask." Zhao Hongrun said with a gloomy expression.
The Emperor of Wei pondered for a moment and suddenly asked, to everyone's surprise: "This morning in the Hall of Wende, you proposed the four words 'the people are rich and the country is strong', so I ask you, how to make the people rich?"
"Huh?"
The three Zhongshu ministers looked at the Emperor of Wei in surprise, and thought to themselves, weren't they admonishing this naughty prince? Why did he change his policy? How to make the people rich? How could such a national plan be carried out by a man who was only fourteen years old?
Can a child with a yellow mouth be able to answer this? Your Majesty is clearly trying to make things difficult for His Highness the Eighth Prince.
But what surprised them even more was that Zhao Hongrun said without hesitation: "Strive for business and belittle wealth."
The implication is to support private business and reduce taxes.
"..." Zhongshu Youcheng Yu Ziqi was perked up after hearing this. After all, Zhao Hongrun's words coincided with his thoughts.
"Sure enough, I got the answer..."
The face of the Emperor of Wei remained the same, because he had had a premonition, otherwise he would not have changed his promise in time: "Taxation is the foundation of the country, it cannot be reduced by just saying it will be reduced. Let's talk about the importance of commerce in detail."
"What's there to elaborate on? It's nothing more than encouraging the private sector to develop business." Zhao Hongrun said casually.
At this time, Zhongshu Youcheng Yu Ziqi couldn't help but said: "But Your Highness, if you want to encourage the development of private business, you have to harm the interests of the powerful and nobles..."
Zhao Hongrun turned to look at Yu Ziqi and said nonchalantly: "Among the population of Wei Dynasty, the powerful only account for 20-30%, but they can hold at least 70-80% of the wealth and return one or two to the people. What's the big deal?
"
Yu Ziqi's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he felt as if he had met a close friend. A moment ago, he was dissatisfied with His Highness for humiliating the saint and leaving a letter. At this moment, he could not wait to have a long talk with His Highness holding a candle.
From his expression, He Xiangxu and Lin Yuyang looked at each other and smiled bitterly.
Fortunately, at this time, Emperor Zhao Yuancai of the Wei Dynasty spoke up in time: "Just because you think so does not mean that the dignitaries of the Wei Dynasty also think so. Even though I am the emperor, if all the dignitaries in the world are dissatisfied with me, I will also be very angry.
It’s a headache. Now that we, the Wei Dynasty, can’t touch the interests of those powerful people for the time being, how can we make the people strong in this situation? This is my question. If you can answer it, I will allow you not to go to the palace.
I want to study, and I will make another promise to you, otherwise, you will obediently come to the palace to study for me every day."
As soon as he finished speaking, Yu Ziqi, who already had a good impression of Zhao Hongrun, couldn't help but said: "Your Majesty's words are a bit harsh, aren't they? Although the Eighth Prince is smart, he is only a fourteen-year-old boy after all. Your Majesty asked this question, and the humble minister has been living for nearly four years in vain.
After ten years of reading more than a hundred sages’ testaments, it’s still hard to answer, so why bother His Majesty?”
"Otherwise, how can we make him go back to the palace to study? This Yu Ziqi..."
The Emperor of Wei looked at the Secretary of State with a dumbfounded look, and said to his heart that it was you who jumped out to deliberately embarrass my son in the first place, and it is you who is interceding for him now. Whose side are you on?
Shaking his head secretly, Zhao Yuanci ignored it, looked at Zhao Hongrun and asked: "How can we make the people of Wei Dynasty rich without touching the interests of the powerful? Can you answer it?"
"This matter is simple." Zhao Hongrun said easily.
"This matter... is still simple?!"
Both the Emperor of Wei and the three ministers were shocked by Zhao Hongrun's words.
Suddenly there was silence in the palace, and only Zhao Hongrun could be heard saying without hesitation: "For example, the wealth owned by the powerful is the money in the left pocket of the father, and the money owned by the people of Wei is the money in the father's left pocket.
The money in the right pocket, my father doesn’t want to transfer the money from the left pocket to the right pocket, but also wants the money in the right pocket to increase, then there is only one way.”
"What can we do?" Zhao Yuanci couldn't help but asked excitedly.
Zhao Hongrun glanced at the Emperor of Wei and said calmly: "Put the money in other people's pockets into your father's right pocket!"
"Absurd!" The Emperor of Wei was greatly disappointed when he heard this, and said displeasedly: "Can I still rob other people's wealth?"
Before he finished speaking, Yu Ziqi shouted urgently: "Your Majesty, please wait!"
Zhao Yuansi looked at Yu Ziqi in surprise, but found that he was looking at Zhao Hongrun with excitement, and asked with surprise and joy: "Your Highness, do you mean to start from other countries?"
When Zhao Yuanci heard this, he realized that he had made a mistake.
Indeed, besides the Wei Dynasty, there are other countries in the world. If we can find a way to take over the wealth of other countries, it will undoubtedly be a good way to make the people rich without touching the interests of the country's elites. However, we cannot directly send troops.
Go and rob it? Then the Wei Dynasty will undoubtedly become the target of public criticism and will be jointly attacked by other countries, which will do more harm than good.
"How to implement it specifically?" Yu Ziqi asked the question in the minds of everyone in the hall. He did not think that Zhao Hongrun would propose such an unsightly idea as directly sending troops to rob.
"Trade! Through the means of trade between countries!"
"Trading with other countries?" Yu Ziqi gradually calmed down: "In the past years, I, the Wei Dynasty, also traded with other countries... but I didn't necessarily get any benefits."
"How did you do it?"
Yu Ziqi said truthfully: "One year, the Wei State was short of food. His monarch sent an envoy to the Wei Dynasty to implore your majesty to provide some grain. In return, the Wei State gave me a number of good horses, gold, pearls and jade articles, and ten beauties."
name……"
"Where's the beauty?" Suddenly, Zhao Hongrun interrupted and asked with a smile.
Yu Ziqi didn't expect this question, so he subconsciously said: "Of course I will send it to the palace..."
After saying this, he suddenly woke up and secretly glanced at the face of Emperor Wei, only to see that the latter's face seemed to be covered with a layer of black air.
"Your Highness tricked me!"
Seeing Zhao Hongrun smiling heartlessly, Yu Ziqi was about to cry without tears.