Datang: What's wrong with my fief being a billion points larger?

Li Er came to the carriage where Li Yuanji was riding and looked at the decoration inside the carriage which seemed familiar but basically unfamiliar.

Li Yuanji looked at Li Er's eyes looking around, and then smiled.

"If you like it, go ahead and watch it. Don't worry about me."

After Li Yuanji finished speaking, he took out a newspaper and started reading. The content of today's newspapers can be said to be very rich. In addition to the court's major newspapers, also known as the Tang Newspaper, there are also local reports. In addition to political affairs, some interesting stories and poems and essays by literati are also published.

After looking for a while, Li Er saw Li Yuanji looking at a large piece of paper full of words. He then sat down and started reading another newspaper on the table.

The first thing that catches your eye is the latest policy implemented by the Tang Dynasty. The imperial court encourages private individuals to open factories. The Tang Dynasty has established the Tang Bank, which can provide corresponding loan services to those who have made contributions to the Tang Dynasty so that private individuals can build factories.

Li Er looked at it with great surprise. Although there were many words he could not understand, he could still guess part of it based on the context.

Part of the tasks of this Datang Bank was equivalent to the previous Qianjian, that is, the place where coins were minted. Now it was separated into Datang Bank by Li Yuanji, and it also took on the responsibility of lending.

The article that Li Er saw was about the loan service provided by Datang Bank to ordinary people. First of all, one must have a Datang household registration, and secondly, one must have made contributions to Datang. Finally, after reviewing the applicant's background, Datang Bank will determine the loan amount based on the review results and what the applicant has done.

As for the repayment method, it is also diversified. The maximum loan period is ten years. Even if it is the longest loan period of ten years, the interest on one hundred thousand taels of silver is only five thousand taels.

If the repayment is made within the shortest period of six months, the interest will only be two hundred taels.

The review of this loan is also very strict. If malicious lending behavior is discovered, the original property, even if it is hidden, will be confiscated at three times the loan amount, and some benefits will be cut, especially the household registration, which will also be labeled as bad lending behavior. No matter what you do in the future, it will be extremely difficult.

As for entering the officialdom, this path was directly cut off, and descendants within three generations could only be grassroots clerks. If they wanted to become officials, they would also need to be examined. If one had never made any contribution to the Tang Dynasty, or even had a label of bad lending behavior, there was no way he could become an official.

Li Yuanji prepared this policy for those who really need it. Because the interest rate is very low, Li Yuanji wanted to prevent someone from taking advantage of this opportunity to borrow money to support the expansion of their business.

This was one of Li Yuanji's methods for promoting industrialization, in order to encourage more people to build factories. Li Yuanji was well aware that with the gradual popularization of knowledge, there would probably be many extraordinary people hidden among the people. With the promotion of civilian use, the layout of various industrializations could be accelerated.

Li Er read the report to the end and was shocked. He really didn't expect that he could play like Li Yuanji. He really didn't think about it.

In fact, even if he thought of it, it would be of no use. This requires strong financial support from the national treasury. When the national treasury cannot even afford various development expenses, or it is very difficult, this matter cannot be implemented at all.

This is actually taking the money out and giving it to the people. Even if ten years have passed, the income from one hundred thousand taels would only be five thousand taels. If the borrower is unable to repay, even one hundred thousand taels would be wasted. Without some financial resources, it would be impossible to support it.

From these words, Li Er could also see that Li Yuanji was truly dedicated to the people and gave money to the people in the name of loans. At least Li Er had never seen this before, and it had never appeared in all dynasties, but now it appeared before him.

As for the qualifications required for the loan, Li Er saw no problem with that. Giving these people such treatment would only make people all over the world more inclined to contribute to the Tang Dynasty. At the same time, as they valued household registration, those who were already qualified would be even more grateful to the court.

Li Er could even imagine that the amount of loan would definitely not be much, because it involved an agreement that could not be repaid, and a decision that would destroy his family.

Moreover, there is no such thing as asset relocation. The surrounding areas are all the territory of the Tang Dynasty. Where can the assets be transferred to? No matter where they go, they are still in the Tang Dynasty.

Even if someone really left the Tang Dynasty, Li Er didn't know who would dare to accept the money. If someone really gave it out, the small countries outside would probably send both the person and the money to the Tang Dynasty respectfully and admit their mistakes in a proper manner after they found out.

Now, the Tang Dynasty has destroyed dozens of small countries, if not a hundred. Especially with its vast territory and powerful strength, those small countries outside can only hope that the Tang Dynasty will not pay attention to them, otherwise they may be destroyed one day. How could they dare to accept the money flowing out of the Tang Dynasty?

In Li Er's eyes, this policy was a gain. Compared with the cost, the reward was undoubtedly amazing. It made the people of the world more loyal to the Tang Dynasty and Li Yuanji. He gained benefits and reputation.

Li Er continued to read on. What followed were some local reports, such as which river channel was dredged, when the construction started, when it was completed, how much manpower, material and financial resources were used, what the final construction looked like, what materials were used, etc. It can be said that some problematic projects were exposed directly.

As for why there was nowhere to hide, it was because Li Yuanji read this newspaper every day, and so did the ministers in the court and local officials.

Although corruption still exists in the current Tang Dynasty, the probability is very low because every official is treated very well, and as long as they retire normally, they will still receive a retirement subsidy. It can be said that this is different from previous dynasties and the previous Tang Dynasty.

Li Er couldn't help himself when he saw these.

"Good! This newspaper is good!"

Li Yuanji listened to Li Er's voice, slowly put down the newspaper in his hand, and looked at Li Er with a puzzled look.

Li Er saw this and immediately smiled and said, “Your Majesty, what this newspaper writes is very good. I think the situation in the place where it is published is very suitable.

In the past, these matters were reported from the county to the state, and then from the state to the prefecture. If the situation was serious, it would be conveyed to the court. The court would either learn about it in this way or get the news from the Censorate.

The local governments would not choose to report some minor matters to the court, especially in various projects, where shoddy work and corruption by officials were rampant.

Now, with this newspaper, we only need to read it once and we don’t need the court to check step by step to know the truth. Moreover, with this newspaper, the officials below will have to do their work in a down-to-earth manner. Otherwise, if there is any problem, Your Majesty will know it directly.

This newspaper saved the court a lot of manpower and material resources, especially the time and energy spent by officials. "

Li Yuanji looked at Li Er who was full of excitement. He really didn't expect that Li Er would be excited about these things.

This newspaper is now considered mainstream. Not only officials, but also ordinary people, as people's lives become more prosperous, more and more people will choose to buy a newspaper to learn about the world. As for local newspapers, Li Yuanji is still hesitant about whether to allow localities to register newspaper offices.

In Li Yuanji's mind, at least for the time being, he did not want local newspapers to exist. He was afraid that some people would use newspapers to mislead the people and incite confrontation.

Nowadays, all articles published by the Datang Daily must be reviewed, and the editor will read them himself. If there are any problems, they will be discovered at the first time.

If local newspapers were established, with so many prefectures in the Tang Dynasty, how could he possibly pay attention to every local newspaper in real time? Although it would allow him to learn about local affairs faster, the hidden dangers were also very high.

Li Yuanji looked at Li Er and said slowly: "This newspaper was originally in Lingnan. You should know that it is now being promoted throughout the country in order to let people know about this in real time and understand what national policies the court has issued.

In the past, these needed to be gradually communicated to each prefecture. For places further away, it might take another year or two to know about these things. Now with newspapers, information from all places can be synchronized.

In the reports above, there is a date under each article so that readers can see at a glance when something happened.

For the common people, it is not only about knowing the decisions of the court and what is happening in other places, but it is also closely related to them and is not just a topic of conversation after dinner.

Moreover, through newspapers, more people can learn more characters. After seeing more characters, even if they don’t study them, they will at least be able to recognize some of them. This can be considered an additional effect.”

In fact, Li Yuanji had not originally thought of what he said at the end, but the reality was that some people really learned a lot of words through newspapers, and this matter was also reported in the Tang Daily.

When Li Yuanji first heard about it, he was amazed. Every time a new newspaper was issued, he would buy it. Since he could not read, he asked people who learned to read to him. In this way, after reading and listening so many times, he finally learned it.

How to say this? It was because of this incident that Li Yuanji discovered the extra functions of the newspaper. Although he did not expect this effect at the beginning, it did not prevent him from accepting the praise from Cen Wenben and others, and now boasting to Li Er about his original decision.

Anyway, as long as Li Yuanji doesn't say it, who can know? This is one of his goals!

Li Yuanji watched Li Er nod his head as he listened, his eyes suddenly understanding and he felt happy, but then he continued to speak.

"Brother, I have something to ask you. Regarding newspapers, do you think it is necessary for each prefecture to establish a local newspaper bureau?"

Li Yuanji had been thinking about this matter for a long time and had gradually come up with an answer in his mind. Now he wanted to see what Li Er would do. After all, Li Er had been an emperor, so it was a good opportunity to see what Li Er thought.

Upon hearing this, Li Er began to ponder. He didn't know the purpose of Li Yuanji's question, nor did he know whether Li Yuanji had an answer. He didn't want to think about these. He was only thinking about the question raised by Li Yuanji. If it were him, what would he do?
This is what Li Er is really thinking about. If he were the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, how would he deal with this problem?
Li Er thought for a while, and finally looked at Li Yuanji firmly.

“If it were me, I would let each prefecture set up a newspaper bureau, but all the texts published would need to be submitted to the court for review and only be published after review.

In this way, we can learn a lot about what the local governments are doing through this newspaper, and this newspaper also serves the purpose of supervising local officials.

For the imperial court, it can save a lot of energy and time, and it is beneficial to both the imperial court and the local areas. "

Li Yuanji listened quietly. Li Er said a lot, but what he said was basically what he had already considered, and some parts were not as comprehensive as what he thought.

After understanding Li Er's thoughts, Li Yuanji sighed in his heart. Although he didn't know whether Li Er thought so after serious consideration, based on what Li Er said, he felt a big gap between him and Li Er.

Because Li Er didn't think about the dangers, he only thought about the benefits.

Perhaps it was because Li Er didn't understand these things as well as he did, so he could only say these. Even if they were benefits, some of them might not really be benefits after a while.

Li Yuanji didn't say anything in the end, just said that he understood, but in Li Yuanji's heart, he had already rejected this method.

He must never hand over the power of public opinion to local governments. This era is different from the era in his previous life. If he hands over the power of public opinion to local governments, it will be really difficult to guard against people with ulterior motives once they appear there.

It is easy to give out this power, but it will be difficult to take it back later. I am afraid that all places will oppose it, and their opposition will be well-founded.

When Li Er saw that Li Yuanji knew about it, he didn't know what Li Yuanji would do, but he didn't think about it anymore and continued reading the newspaper.

Later, I saw some poems in the newspaper, and then I saw a report about people raising pigs in a small town and a small village in the south.

Seeing this, Li Er couldn't help but laugh. It seemed that this newspaper really covered all aspects. Now even the people's lives would be published in this newspaper.

If it were in the past, even if there were newspapers, Li Er believed that it would be almost impossible for ordinary people to appear in the newspapers.

Because this newspaper is only this big and the space available for display is limited, there are too many people in the world who want to be in this newspaper.

As for the official reports used before the Tang Dynasty, they are very different from this newspaper.

When Li Yuanji was still in Lingnan, he had thought about this difference very clearly. This was the reason why he re-established the Newspaper and Publication Bureau instead of continuing to use the court bulletin.

Li Er then continued to read, and when he saw that the news about the army was also in the newspaper, Li Er was shocked again. The army was actually reported in this newspaper.

At this time, Li Er finally understood why Li Yuanji said that many ordinary people would buy this newspaper to read. It was because the content was too rich, with news from all aspects, and it was all absolutely true. (End of this chapter)