Hearing Xun You's words for the first time, these young courtiers were still a little confused. Jia Xu shook his head. thing.
The emperor came, and all the officials paid homage. Wang Fu stood at the head of the throne, and all the officials gnashed their teeth.
Seeing these angry courtiers, the emperor was a little helpless. He had to go through the process first, and after asking for a letter from Wang Jie, he began to formally discuss politics. After receiving Xun You's teachings, the young ministers quickly followed behind many ministers. Nothing interesting like Jia Xu's happened. The emperor looked at these new faces seriously.
Although today's government is extremely complicated, it can be clearly divided into two camps. One is the one who invites King Jiexin to cook, and is headed by Yuan Feng. After a long period of training, Yuan Feng has become more and more capable. Strong, not to mention he is the only minister in the court who can impress both aristocratic and poor families. He has no selfish motives and the emperor is willing to reuse him.
On the other side is Wang Fu. He is the only one with this power.
Originally, Wen Renxi supported him, but since the assessment, the two parted ways, and now they have become bitter enemies. Every time he invited Wang Jiexin to cook, Wen Renxi was more diligent than Yuan Feng, which almost made him almost To take Yuan Feng's place and become the first person in the court to fight against the traitors, there is also Taiwei Zhang Wen. He was originally neutral and did not attack Wang Fu.
But Wang Fu rejected Zhang Wen's suggestion to attack the southwest and scolded him, which made Zhang Wen switch to the other side. Similarly, Jia Xu was a low-key person. He no longer dared to support Wang Fu alone, so he quietly became one of the people who opposed Wang Fu and acted very quickly.
"Your Majesty, I have something to report!"
Wang Fu frowned and said: "The first is the matter of cotton. I personally went to Liangzhou and other places in the Western Regions to conduct inspections. Sure enough, cotton can be cultivated in the Western Regions and other places, but the people are not willing. Farming... As for cotton, there are three types. The first is pure white, like snow, the second is dark yellow, as is the case in several places in Liangzhou, and the last is gray cotton, which is not suitable for spinning. ..”
"The most suitable cotton in the Western Regions, and many of the finished products are white cotton!"
"I suggest that the military camps guarding the Western Regions can cultivate cotton on a large scale for winter use. In addition, let the people in Liangzhou do farming and allow merchants to transport cotton to the surrounding areas for sale. In this way, the profits can be exchanged for food. , only then will the common people be willing to farm. As for merchants, they cannot be allowed to seek huge profits and oppress the people affected by the disaster on the frontier. The court can set the price..."
After Wang Fu finished talking about what he was thinking, he heard Yuan Feng stand up and say, "No, how can the temple compete with the people for profit and help merchants? It's unethical!"
After he finished speaking, most of the ministers nodded in agreement. Only Wen Renqi sat quietly and frowned. He seemed to stand up to refute Wang Fu, curse, or even take action directly. However, his This policy seems to be able to bring huge profits to the national treasury. Think about the fact that these merchants have to transport a large amount of cotton to various places. Just the vehicle and boat taxes they pay through canals and Chidao...
Wen Renxi was extremely conflicted. In the end, his concern for the Han Dynasty's treasury overcame his disgust for Wang Fu. He stood up and said: "Your Majesty, the people of You, Bing, Xin, He, Liang and other states have been suffering from disasters for a long time. , If cotton can suppress disasters, let alone supporting merchants, I would be willing to let you personally transport the cotton for sale!"
Listening to his righteous words, Baiguan thought to himself, you can make money by selling cotton, of course you are willing!
The officials started arguing about this. Yuan Feng and others naturally believed that if merchants were allowed to sell cotton, the price of cotton would increase, which would make the border people unable to buy it, and the merchants would make a lot of money, especially when there is a disaster.
These merchants don't care about the suffering of the people, they just keep raising prices, and even hide large amounts of supplies.
But Wang Fu still insisted on controlling the prices of these merchants to prevent such a situation from happening. In addition, he still wanted to make cotton create profits, so that people would farm, otherwise, they would not plant it.
There was a fierce dispute between the two sides over these inedible crops, and the final choice was still left in the hands of the emperor.
"This matter will be as the king said. However, Mr. Yuan, you are responsible for supervising these merchants. If anyone dares to seek huge profits, the clan will punish him!" the emperor ordered. Now that the emperor has made a decision, the officials will no longer argue.
Yes, I nodded and remembered it in my heart.
"Your Majesty, another matter is about Yizhou... This time I went to the Western Regions and found that businessmen from other regions preferred to drink tea, especially the tea from Yizhou, Jingzhou, and Yangzhou, which was highly favored by these foreign merchants.
Great love, I thought about it for a long time, and then I learned that people in foreign lands eat more meat and less vegetarian food. Therefore, most of their gastrointestinal problems are blocked and they are seriously harmed..."
"As for tea drinkers, it can relieve constipation..."
"Wang Fu!" Before he could finish speaking, a minister interrupted him angrily and said: "Wang Jiexin, how can you say such filthy words in the temple in front of the emperor? Your Majesty, please
A letter from the King of Cooking!"
"Shut up!" Wen Renxi looked at him and cursed angrily, raised his head again, looked at Wang Fu eagerly, and asked: "Wang...you mean, they are in great need of tea? What if we start the external tea trade?"
....”
"That's what I mean. If you order Yizhou to plant tea on a large scale, then transport it to Liangzhou, and then send Han merchants to sell it to foreign countries, in exchange for gold, slaves, salt and iron, and even cotton, which is something that the Han people have never had.
Strange objects..." Wang Fu said. He was preparing to start the Han Dynasty's foreign trade again. He squinted his eyes and said: "Beyond the Han Dynasty, there is Guishang, and beyond Guishuang, there is Anxi...
There are so many wonderful things in the world!”
Wen Renxi nodded hurriedly and said: "Your Majesty, what the king said is absolutely true!"
"Previously, he opened foreign trade in Yangzhou, and every year he exchanged a large amount of gold and silver for the Han Dynasty, which was deposited in the national treasury. Within three years, he even obtained nearly 100,000 slaves, which are now used to develop Yangzhou, build Chidao and
Architecture, in addition, Xing Ziang has also proposed many times that he wants to land in Yizhou, develop it, and then use this place as a starting point to open up overseas..."
"If we can make Liangzhou become a commercial channel for the outside world, Liangzhou will definitely be as prosperous as Yangzhou, and perhaps even more prosperous. The merchants of the Han Dynasty can reach any place and exchange for a large amount of materials and money..."
Wen Renxi spoke slowly. In terms of economics, Wang Fu couldn't compare to Wen Renxi, so he listened to his words quietly.
After Wen Renxi finished speaking, he solemnly bowed to the emperor, and then said: "Your Majesty, I am willing to do this personally. If it fails, please behead Wang Jiexin!"
Wang Fu, who was listening carefully to his words, was suddenly startled.