My son, Fusu, please abdicate the first emperor!

"If we suppress it by force and still prohibit business, I'm afraid it won't be a solution."

“Going with the flow is the solution.”

Meng Yi's tone was firm.

The ministers saw that His Majesty the Emperor had previously said that he would allow the development of the commercial economy, and that the Emperor had not objected when they were discussing those things just now.

As a result, these people naturally became bolder and asked the emperor directly, "Your Majesty, we think what Mr. Meng said is very true."

It was also the first time that Meng Yi had so many people support his proposal, and he felt flattered.

Based on his understanding of his colleagues and ministers, they couldn't be so kind.

The abnormal behavior of his colleagues made Meng Yi start to reflect on whether there was something wrong with his proposal, otherwise why would the bad guys rush to agree with him.

However, everyone supported this matter unanimously, as if the rise of commercial trade within the empire was an inevitable trend.

Times are always changing.

The Qin Dynasty, which once severely curbed business, is now discussing opening up the market.

"The Zhou Li has the concept of loan, the Yue Yu has the concept of five equalities, and each biography has its own concept of mediation. Now we open up the concept of loan, expand the five equalities, and set up various mediations, so as to unify the masses and suppress the integration of all."

"The purpose of setting up the five equal credit loans is to stabilize prices, prevent merchants from manipulating market prices and making huge profits, and protect the interests of the poor people. In addition, excessively high prices will impact the market."

Meng Yi is no pushover. He was able to become a minister at such a young age, not simply because he was handsome and eloquent.

He had already prepared a countermeasure.

Commercial development has been the source of chaos since ancient times.

How to put it, giving deception a legal cloak, that's how business is done.

All businessmen are dishonest, and this is not slander.

Originally, business evolved from transactions, bartering.

But since the emergence of money as a measure of the value of things, many things have changed.

Originally one cow was exchanged for three sheep.

But as time goes by, a cow may be worth five hundred coins, or three hundred coins, or sometimes even thousands of coins.

Money is still money, but because of the birth of money, the value of cattle began to fluctuate.

A cow is still a cow, but its value is artificially manipulated and its price goes up and down, which naturally greatly affects people's daily lives.

Therefore, once business develops, the degree of social instability will begin to increase.

Because people have deliberately added a third variable between people and things and given it meaning.

The development of business first affects people's daily lives. Due to some rules, when business development is abnormal, that is, when money is seriously detached from the price of the goods themselves, people will find it difficult to survive.

The biggest impact of business development itself is the trust between people.

The original price of one qian is three qian when sold.

This is already a common topic.

The impact of commercial development on social issues has always been something the country is extremely vigilant about.

Because behind the decline of almost every dynasty, the deformed development of the commercial economy has reached a dead end, resulting in money becoming worthless.

However, money is worthless, things are still the same things, but people cannot use them. People save money for a lifetime and keep it at home, thinking that it is value, but in the end the value evaporates.

Won’t the people pick up their hoes and swing their fists to beat up those who are causing the devaluation of money?

The Qin Dynasty also learned from the experience of the demise of the Zhou Dynasty, which was caused by the corruption of the nobles of the six kingdoms, which led to its own decline; therefore, it formulated the national policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce.

The law despises businessmen, but the businessmen have become rich.

But unfortunately, since ancient times, the law has tried every means to degrade merchants and curb their development, but the merchants have already become rich.

As long as you do business, you will definitely make money. If you want to make money, go into business. This is the biggest advantage of doing business, but also the biggest disadvantage of doing business.

Then one day, when everyone in a country wants to make money, the whole country will inevitably be engaged in business.

As business develops over time, the ones who suffer in the end are the honest people.

Meng Yi first put forward his proposal, and then proposed the contingency plan he had prepared in advance to prevent the situation from getting worse.

Naturally, all the ministers looked at Meng Yi with admiration.

Meng Yi was originally a man with unlimited future.

When he was only fourteen years old, he proposed to King Zheng of Qin a solution to the problem of recruiting soldiers from all over the country. The age of all the people in the country should be recorded in the household registration. Once a man reaches the age of fourteen, he should be allowed to marry, start a family, and then have children. After having children, he should go to the battlefield.

After all, how can we say that Qin is a country of livestock?

When Meng Yi proposed this idea, no one in the country stood up to oppose it.

The people of Qin seemed to be accustomed to being used like mules, but the people of the six countries were different.

What Qin did caused the people of the six states to die young.

Moreover, the Qin people actually supported the King of Qin's actions, and the kings of the six countries broke through their defenses one after another.

Meng Yi solved the big problem of Qin's conscription, and left a good template for future generations on how to make the best use of human power.

From the first year of a man's birth, he has been recorded as a usable laborer, waiting for him to grow up step by step. It's like wheat must be harvested when it's ripe, and not a minute can be left.

Women are recorded from the first year of their lives, and when they reach a certain age, they are allowed to give birth to the next generation. It's like raising a large basin of river clams, and once they grow up, they are allowed to produce pearls.

When a man and a woman have a conflict, one always thinks it is the other's fault. No one ever thinks about what pushed them to get married before they are mature enough.

To get back to the point, the registration of people’s age in the population register was a first initiated by the Qin State.

In fact, only the Qin Dynasty's hierarchical system could accomplish this practice.

If it were any other country, even if they came up with such a method, they would not be able to put it into practice.

Because their country is bound by family ties and blood ties, there is no so-called law, no so-called fairness. Even if the registration order is issued, no one will carry it out step by step.

Meng Yi is a ruthless person.

From his youth to today, he has always been a ruthless man, and the key is that he is absolutely loyal to Qin Shihuang's family.

Just based on these two points, he was able to hold the position of senior minister and accompany the emperor in and out for more than ten years.

The ministers all looked at Meng Yi with fear.

In fact, there are still too many powerful people in the court of the Qin Dynasty. With these people, Qin II can do nothing and live to be a hundred years old and then die.

But Qin II refused to do so.

Qin II was very interested in Meng Yi's proposal. He asked curiously, "What is the Five Equalities?"

"Loan on credit?" Qin II was familiar with this term, but he was very disgusted with loans.

Because a certain studious emperor once studied the history of the Song Dynasty and found that once the government issued loans, the people would suffer.

Because once loans are issued, people will rush to the bank to borrow money. Most people have simple mindsets, only caring about today and the present. When they borrow money, they are very happy, but when they spend all the borrowed money and have no ability to pay it back, something goes wrong.

Many families will become poor because of borrowing.

Originally, every household had a few acres of land, a house, a well, and a few cows.

When we first divided the industries, everyone was similar.

But once you borrow money or start gambling, your home can be gone in a matter of minutes.

Apart from borrowing, the other option is pawning.

This is the root of Qin II’s aversion to borrowing.

A thousand-mile long dam is destroyed by an ant hole. Once lending starts, it becomes a bottomless pit.

A good country will always try every possible means to ban, crack down on and prevent lending, pawning and gambling.

The tassels covered the emperor's young face, so no one could see his expression and judge his likes and dislikes.

Feng Quji frowned directly. He was actually very tolerant of young people, except for Meng Yi. Even if it was Zhang Cang, Feng Quji could tolerate it.

The only exception is Meng Yi, who is too ruthless and does not consider the consequences.

Take the criminal punishment for example, Meng Yi really went too far.

Anyone involved in this matter, regardless of gender, age or physical condition, will be put to death without any reason.

It was hard to believe that he had followed the First Emperor for so long but had not learned anything useful.

To be honest, the emperor is actually a very comprehensive person. Although he is selfish, he is very kind to others; although he is mean and ungrateful, he is tolerant and generous.

Except for those things that he himself absolutely could not let go of, he could give everything else to his subjects.

But unfortunately, Meng Yi followed the retired emperor for so long, but he only learned to be mean and ungrateful. He did not learn any of the breadth of mind and vision of the First Emperor.

Meng Yi completely ignored the looks of the people around him. At this moment, he confidently replied: "Your Majesty, the term 'Five Equalities' comes from "Yue Yu", which says: "The emperor takes the land of the princes to establish the Five Equalities, so that there will be no two merchants in the market, the four classes will always be equal, the strong will not oppress the weak, and the rich will not oppress the poor. Then there will be surplus for the public treasury, and the grace will extend to the common people."

"The emperor takes the land of the princes to establish the five equalities, so that there will not be two prices in the market, and the interests of the four categories of people, namely scholars, farmers, workers and merchants, can be balanced for a long time. The strong cannot harass the weak, and the rich cannot threaten the poor. In this way, the national treasury will have a surplus, and the emperor's grace can also benefit ordinary people."

"The idea of ​​credit loan comes from "Zhou Li - Quanfu", which means that the government organized credit loan activities.

"Together, it is the Five Equal Credits, which is the urban economic management policy formulated by me."

"Your Majesty, you should establish five equal officials in the cities of Chang'an, Luoyang, Handan, Linzi, Wan, and Chengdu. The former Chang'an City Magistrate and the city officials of Luoyang, Handan, Linzi, Wan, and Chengdu will be renamed the Five Equal Officials City Masters. Under the City Masters, there will be five Trade Assistants and one Money Assistant."

"The market price is specifically responsible for assessing prices, which are the prices set by the government for certain important commodities."

"Each city takes the market price of the commodity in the middle month of each quarter as the basis, and sets the upper, middle and lower parity prices according to the quality of the commodity as a standard price, which is the so-called "market parity".

"And the stabilization means that when the market price of a certain commodity, such as "grains, cloth, silk, and cotton", rises and exceeds the parity price, the relevant municipal government should sell the same type of commodity to the market at its parity price; on the contrary, if the market price is lower than the parity price, it is allowed to be bought and sold freely."

"The government purchases unsalable important commodities: When important materials such as grains are unsalable, the government purchases them at their cost price to avoid losses."

"Government loan on credit: On credit, when citizens "want to offer sacrifices to the deceased but have no money", the municipal government will lend them "with the tribute from industry and commerce" for a period of "no more than ten months for sacrifices and no more than three months for funerals" (no interest)"

"Loan, that is, when citizens apply for loans due to shortage of productive materials, the municipal government will "grant them" to meet their production and business needs."

"'After deducting the expenses, the interest shall be calculated based on the income, which shall not exceed one tenth of the annual profit', that is, interest shall be charged based on one tenth of the "profit"."

"Your Majesty has established five cities and used these methods to manage the market. He has monitored prices across the country and will never let officials and civilians suffer losses."

"What do you think, Your Majesty?"

The ministers whispered to each other, "I think this is feasible."

"You've considered every aspect."

"Mr. Meng is truly extraordinary. Every time he makes a suggestion, he can come up with many strategies that benefit the country and the people."

"..."

"This is a good idea, it provides a safety net."

A group of doctors who followed the trend were whispering, fearing that Meng Yi could not hear them praising and agreeing with him.

But Meng Tian frowned, he felt that his brother was too direct.

At such times, the ministers did not discuss the matter first as usual, but he directly put forward his own ideas and asked the emperor to adopt them.

Isn't this a lack of consideration for the other ministers' faces? And it's taking oneself too seriously.

What's more, his younger brother has become more and more arrogant and even looks down on others since he entered the Supreme Court.

Meng Tian saw the problem, but he couldn't point it out to his brother when he was at the peak of his career.

We can only find another time.

Everyone was waiting for the response from Qin II. As long as His Majesty said yes, they could make a lot of money.

Why did all the civil and military officials in the court support Qin Ershi to take the throne? Because many of them wanted to make money from peace. In the past, following Qin Shihuang was a losing business for them, or they would lose their lives.

Qin II finally ascended the throne, and this was the opportunity they had been waiting for.

Qin II had been sitting for a long time. He just raised his sleeves slightly, and for a moment, the eyes of all the civil and military officials in the court flashed in unison, as if a duck was flying past their eyes.

This frightened Qin II. He didn't know his subjects could be like this.

A group of people looked at him with jackal-like eyes, greedily and cowardly, with strong desire in their eyes.

They looked at Qin II pleadingly, begging him to give them some bones to eat.

Facing so many gazes, Qin II felt threatened and subconsciously tightened his grip on the sword at his waist.

"Build five cities and focus on economic development. Wouldn't that attract crowds? Then the big cities will suck the blood of the surrounding small cities."

"Everyone is running to big cities, who would still want to settle down in small cities?" (End of this chapter)