Capital Datang

"Oh? I wonder what advice Li Shilang has?" Changsun Wuji didn't look surprised when he saw that it was Li Jingheng who spoke. People like Li Jingheng naturally suffered a great loss if heavy taxes were imposed in areas with developed commerce, so Changsun Wuji expected the other party's opposition. (you can find this site)

Changsun Wuji has great power in Datang, but Li Jingheng is not afraid of him at all. Even though he is only a fourth-rank servant, behind him stands the entire industrial and commercial class of Datang. Even if he can't beat Zhangsun Wuji, he can pat his ass and emigrate to Daqi.

I saw Li Jingheng glanced at Changsun Wuji indifferently, and then said: "It's not a high opinion, but the lower officials believe that the reason why industry and commerce continue to develop is mainly because industry and commerce still has a broader prospect, so it is only a matter of time." Constantly attracting a large amount of manpower and material resources to invest in it, and now the imperial court rashly imposes heavy taxes, which will not only dispel the enthusiasm of business owners for development, but will also cause a huge blow to existing businesses, so it is really not advisable!"

Li Jingheng is very aware of Changsun Wuji's careful thinking. It is nothing more than the fact that Changsun's family owns a lot of land in Jiangnan and other places. Now that the farmers have gone to work and do business, his family's fields are not cultivated. It would be a shame to use slaves. The face of scholars, so it is natural to suppress business.And it is worth mentioning that it is not that the Changsun family does not want to "intervene" in handicraft business, but in the industrial and commercial industry, the industries with large profits have been divided up by others, and they look down on those with small profits, so Changsun Wuji now proposes Suppressing industry and commerce is not without jealousy.

"Li Shilang is still too young. According to you, do you want to let the industry and commerce develop like this, so that no one will plant the farmland. I am afraid that the industry and commerce will become rootless water, and there will be no food, let alone development?" Changsun Wuji said calmly, his tone already showed a strong taste, and at the same time, he implied that Li Jingheng was too young and short-sighted.Capital Datang 716

"Master Changsun is getting old, but I didn't expect that he is still so impatient. Naturally, I have something to say about how to solve the problem of agricultural employment!" Li Jingheng also shot back unceremoniously.Since Changsun Wuji made up his mind to suppress business.It is equivalent to Li Jingheng's enemy, and there is no need to worry about offending the other party when speaking.

"Hahaha~, it really is a fearsome young man, I wonder what Li Shilang has to say?" Although Changsun Wuji hid his anger with a big laugh, his tone of voice later on.But already brought a sense of breath.

"It seems that Master Changsun is really forgetful. Last year, an article was published in Datang Daily, which also analyzed the employment dispute between industry, commerce and agriculture. At the end, the article pointed out that if Datang wanted to solve this problem, it could ask Learn from Qi to change the current agricultural structure. Encourage the establishment of large plantations like Daqi. The advantage of this is that the crops are managed in a unified manner, which can save a lot of manpower and material resources, and some simple manual labor can also be performed by slaves. At that time, this This article still caused great controversy in the court, but because of the strong opposition of the eldest grandson, it finally fell through."

Li Jingheng said tit for tat again.His father, Li Daozong, had different opinions from his eldest grandson Wuji and Sui Suiliang, and they had been suppressed by each other for several years.Moreover, their Jiangxia Palace is from the royal family, and the eldest grandson Wuji is a relative. The two groups of people can't "urinate" in the same pot. I haven't seen Li Daozong and Li Xiaogong laughing so happily in the crowd. It seems that they also hope to see the eldest grandson. Wuji was crushed in the hands of his juniors.

"Humph, my Tang ruled the world with benevolence and filial piety. Many industrial and commercial owners used a large number of slaves, but they cruelly squeezed the slaves, making the slaves' conditions miserable, and many slaves rose up to rebel. For example, the coal mine slave uprising in Taiyuan the year before last. If we arrive in time, the consequences will be disastrous. Therefore, slaves have become the biggest factor of instability in our Tang Dynasty. What our Tang Dynasty needs now is to limit the number of slaves, and we must not introduce slaves in large numbers!" Changsun Wuji said aggressively.

As the saying goes, where there is oppression, there is resistance.When Li Yin used slaves extensively, he had already paid attention to improving the living conditions of slaves. This would not only avoid the loss caused by the death of slaves, but also reduce the resistance of some slaves.

However, after Li Yin left Datang, in order to pursue greater profits, some businesses infinitely reduced costs, and slaves were also considered one of the costs, so they were cruelly squeezed, which made many slaves resent their owners. When this resentment accumulates to a certain extent, serious conflicts will naturally erupt.

The most serious one was in Taiyuan the year before last, which was the most important coal producing area in the Tang Dynasty, and all of them were slave miners. In order to expand profits, many mine owners forced slaves into dangerous mines regardless of their life or death. Almost every day, slaves died tragically, so one day, the slaves in a mine finally launched a riot and successfully occupied the mine, which later triggered a big uprising of slaves in more than a dozen surrounding mines, and even They also planned to attack Taiyuan, but fortunately the army arrived later and wiped them out.

This incident had a great impact. Not only were the mine owners of the dozen or so mines severely punished, but the Carbon Coal Industry Association was also fined a huge sum of money due to unfavorable supervision, and had to bear the military expenses of the army. Afterwards, the Carbon Coal Association Several stewards were dismissed, and at the same time, the association also began to improve the conditions of the mine to avoid such things from happening again in the future.

Changsun Wuji now speaks out about the slave uprising, which immediately arouses the support of many people, such as his hardcore Sui Liang, and some old scholars headed by Yu Zhining. Although they are not from Changsun Wuji, they He also believed that the use of slaves was against the way of a sage, coupled with his hatred of industry and commerce, so he naturally sided with Changsun Wuji at this time.

"Don't give up on everything because of choking!" Just as the momentum of Changsun Wuji's party was rising, an old voice suddenly said.As soon as this voice came out, everyone in the court hall immediately quieted down, and at the same time, everyone's eyes turned to the old man who spoke. This man was Li Xiaogong who was only below Changsun Wuji.

Since Li Jing passed away, only Li Xiaogong was in charge of the entire military academy, and his influence spread all over the military circles of the Tang Dynasty. In addition, Li Xiaogong has no military position, and because of his high status, he also has the right to participate in political affairs, but he has always been in the court. He held his breath very heavily, and seldom expressed his opinion on political affairs. He never thought that he would express his opinion directly today.

"Oh? Please tell the king of Hejian County!" Changsun Wuji stared at Li Xiaogong with long and narrow eyes, full of fear in his heart. Since the death of Fang Xuanling and Li Jing, the only one left in the court who can openly contend with him is Li Xiaogong is alone, but Li Xiaogong is a royal family and has military achievements. In order to avoid suspicion, he has never interfered with court affairs. Now that the other party speaks at this time, it is a very abnormal signal. The arrival of Li Yin made Changsun Wuji even more upset.

I saw Li Xiaogong opened his slightly closed eyes, and then glanced at the officials in the court hall. He exuded the majesty of a veteran on the battlefield, making other whisperers shut up immediately, and finally his eyes fixed on Changsun Wu. Ji opened his mouth and said: "This king is old and doesn't know much about government affairs, but I also know a truth, that is, everything has advantages and disadvantages. Although there are many shortcomings in the use of slaves, it also brings To bring greater convenience, so what we have to do now is to use slaves as much as possible to avoid the negative impact of using slaves, instead of restricting the use of slaves!"

Don't look at Li Xiaogong who doesn't speak easily, but this time he spoke directly and sharply, directly refuting Changsun Wuji's previous words. After the uprising, the industrial and commercial circles of Datang have begun to pay attention to improving the living conditions of the slaves. At least in the past two years, there has been no large-scale slave rebellion.

In addition, Li Jingheng also used Daqi as an example, listing that the number of slaves used in Daqi was several times that of Datang, but there were few incidents of slave rebellion in Daqi, mainly because Daqi officially regulated the use of slaves in various industries , and Daqi's treasury income has far exceeded that of Datang.It can be seen that slaves are not a factor of social instability, but one of the driving forces for economic development.

Although Li Jingheng and the others cited the example of Daqi very convincingly, but whether it is Changsun Wuji or Yu Zhining, they are not so convincing, not to mention that some of them do not understand the key points, but It was because of the conflict of interests involved, that's why they pretended not to understand, and instead came up with all kinds of specious excuses to refute.

In the era of the Tang Dynasty, the emperor and his officials were not as strict as later generations. For example, the emperor and his ministers discussed matters, and the ministers also had seats, so the relationship between the ministers and the emperor was more like the boss and subordinates in the company. The power to order the subordinates, but the subordinates also have the right to choose the company. When they are unhappy, they will pat their ass and leave. Unless the other party has committed a crime, the company boss will have nothing to do with him.

It is also for this reason that this kind of scene often occurs in the court of the Tang Dynasty. The agricultural faction headed by Changsun Wuji and Yu Zhining quarreled with the business faction headed by Li Xiaogong and Li Jingheng, and no one was willing to obey the other.Among them, Changsun Wuji has a large number of people, but most of them are older.On Li Jingheng's side, most of them are young officials. They are more open-minded, and all of them were deliberately promoted by Li Shimin over the years.Capital Datang 716

After Li Xiaogong supported Li Jingheng, he refused to speak again, and watched others quarrel with a smile.On the contrary, Li Zhi next to him repeatedly comforted the two gangs who were arguing, but unfortunately he was not Li Shimin, nor did he have the prestige to overwhelm the ministers, so it was useless at all.

Just when Li Zhi watched the quarrel in the court hall and was sweating anxiously, he suddenly heard a joking voice outside the main hall door: "Huh? When will the Mingde Hall in the East Palace be changed into a vegetable market?" Now, is the ninth brother also going to sea to do business?"