In the following days, Qi Hou's chariot continued eastward to Donglai. Cai Ji himself was dealing with official business on the road, and on the other hand, he took time to study the "Taiping Sutra", of course, mainly the red scroll "Taiping Qing Lingdao". The Green Scroll's "Taiping Yaoshu" is adapted from "Zhuangzi", and it is better to read the original "Zhuangzi" than to look at the ghosts and gods in it.

It is worth mentioning that compared with the Mohist classic "Mozi" that Cai Ji had seen before, "Taiping Qing Lingdao" is much more shallow in thought. For example, the logic of ink debate, which is the essence of Mohistism, is not mentioned at all. And the content of the book involving pills and tricks is neither much nor profound, mainly to teach Taiping Taoists how to use pills and tricks to pretend to be ghosts with pills and tricks such as catching ghosts in the air and washing hands with boiling oil. However, this does not mean that "Taiping Qing Lingdao" did not inspire Cai Ji, on the contrary, the author spends a lot of space on the Mohists' ideas and specific implementation methods on politics, economy, people's livelihood, and military

Among them, what interests Cai Ji the most is the Mohist understanding of "righteousness" and "profit". It is said that both Confucianism and Moxican advocate 'righteousness'. However, Confucianism often opposes 'righteousness' to 'profit'. In fact, since Mencius asked, "Why bother with profit? There is also benevolence and righteousness. Since then, later generations of Confucians have taken words and benefits as a great precept. Dong Zhongshu even said: "Zhengqiyi does not seek its benefits, and it does not care about its merits." As a result, Confucianism behaved and focused on motives rather than results, which made moral standards far away from the reality of life, and then became a major malpractice of Confucianism.

On the other hand, Mozi bluntly said that "benefit, righteousness also", advocated "mutual love, mutual benefit", and believed that morality and practical profit cannot be separated, and profit and disadvantage are the standard of good and bad. When the Confucian scholars were still arguing about the advantages and disadvantages of the system from the standpoint of "villain" and "gentleman". Mo Shi has pragmatically declared, "Love for all people", "Love is subordinate to profit", "Those who love others will also love them, and those who benefit others will also benefit them".

This kind of utilitarianism of the Mo family can be said to be very suitable for Cai Ji's spleen and stomach. In her view, since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty respected Confucianism, the successive changes in Chinese history could not get rid of the constraints of the Confucian villain and gentleman's dispute. The so-called Qingliu often hijacked the imperial court policy with a moral stick. But in fact, the criterion for judging the merits of a policy is whether it is beneficial to the country and the people, rather than the private morality of the formulators and implementers. On the contrary, the style of attacking political opponents with private morality is called villainous behavior. Once the Confucian antagonism between "righteousness" and "profit" is lifted, there will be a theoretical basis for heavy business and heavy industry.

In addition, the Mohists are also quite distinctive in terms of people's livelihood and economy. Different from the Legalists who are good at "open source", the principle of Mohists is "use sparingly". In particular, in terms of government spending, the Mohists advocated that "whatever is sufficient for the people should be stopped". He believed that the king should not do anything that would "increase the fee without benefiting the people."

And this principle of saving is also reflected in the cherishing of manpower and time. The Mohists believe that Confucianism is a funeral. The eldest son of the king's parents, wife, and eldest son died, and they both served three years of mourning. Uncle and brother died and mourned for a year. The rest of the clansmen are relatives, ranging from May to March. In this way, in the decades of life, the days of mourning account for most of them. What time do you have for work and study? Therefore, the attitude of the Mohists towards funerals is "festival burial". And this coincides with Cao Cao's thin burial. Of course, Cai Ji, who came from more than 1,800 years later, raised his hands in agreement.

However, since the Mohists were never in power, there are naturally no examples to support these views. The only thing that has been practiced in the entire "Taiping Qing Lingdao" is the military part. In particular, the part about planning uprisings and recruiting troops is simply a classic among the classics. It is important to know that the Mohists are known for their secret societies in history and have rich experience in this area. After systematic sorting and summarization, the Yellow Turban Uprising finally bore fruit. The uprising was almost a decade in the making. The scope covers the eight prefectures of Qing, Xu, You, Hebei, Yang, Yan, and Henan, and such a powerful mobilization and organizational ability can only be compared with the red organizations imported from later generations in Cai Ji's impression.

Regardless of the merits of the Mo family's views, at least with the accompaniment of "Taiping Qing Lingdao", Cai Ji felt that time flew by. Ten days of hard work shook in the blink of an eye, and when the brigade arrived at Zhilongkou City in Donglai County, it was August of the sixth year of Jian'an.

Longkou City was also the Huang County of the year, which was the place where Cai Ji started. On this day, it was learned that Cai Ji had returned victorious. Inside and outside Longkou City, there were already crowds of people, colorful flags fluttering, gongs and drums were noisy, tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians lined up on both sides of the official road, cheering and jumping to welcome the soldiers of the Qi army who had returned triumphantly.

Guan Tong stood in the crowd, watching Cai Ji wave to the soldiers and civilians along the way in the carriage, and felt a pain in his chest. The orphan girl who used to send people under the fence has now become a prince in the north. After the four world-famous and three dukes, but now he was defeated and died, and his reputation was ruined. Guan Tong knew that there were some things that he could not forgive himself for the rest of his life. However, compared to the indignation when he was captured in Liyang that day. Today's management system has more or less acquiesced in Yuan Shao's failure in his heart, and he can't blame others. After all, in less than a year of house arrest, he saw Tian Feng, who had already "died", and also saw Yuan Shu, Yuan Shang's uncle and nephew on the wall, and even heard rumors about Yuan Tan abandoning his father and running away. For the last rumor, Guan Tong has been emotionally trying to deny it. But the occasional memories that flashed through his mind made him have to wonder if the lord at that time was really as Guo Tu said, and had been buried in the river.

But even if those rumors about Yuan's father and son killing each other are true, can this be a reason for Cai Ji to betray Yuan? Can Cai Ji ignore the promotion and protection that the lord has given her over the years, and then fall into the trap of the Yuan family?

Thinking of this, the anger of Xù once again surged into Guan Tong's heart. But when Guan Tong cast his resentful gaze on Cai Ji, the scene in front of him made him stunned on the spot. I saw that Guo Jiazheng, the mastermind of the Cai family under the city gate, introduced a young man who was as gentle as jade to Cai Ji. After a few words of silence between the two sides, the man led several women and children behind him to bow down to Cai Ji. With a smile on his face, Cai Ji raised his hand to signal the group to wait for them to get up, and stepped forward to pick up one of the four or five-year-old boys.

Although the ruler did not know the young man who was at the head. At a glance, he recognized the mother and daughter standing behind the man as Yuan Tan's family. And the boy Cai Ji picked up was Yuan Xi's only son. Seeing the descendants of the Yuan family standing happily with Cai Jiqi, Guan Tong only felt dizzy and almost wanted to fall. Don't know who you should be loyal to for a while? I don't know who I should hate?

"Husband."

The warm and familiar voice made Guan Tong subconsciously turn his head. I saw his wife Ning holding her young son and looking at her timidly not far away. Guan Tong still remembers that when Ning first married him, he was dignified and beautiful, like a begonia fairy, and was regarded as a treasure by him. But now the corners of Ning's eyes and cheeks are crawling with the marks of time, and only a pair of eyes still carry the grace of three years ago. Yes, just three years ago, Guan Tong escaped from Donglai alone to join Yuan Shao, who was far away in Jizhou, and left Ning's mother and son in Longkou City, surrounded by old enemies. But even so, the Ning family still took his son and waited for him to return. In the year that Guan Tong was under house arrest, the Ning family tolerated this husband who wanted to die or live with her gentleness and virtuousness. But this qiē management has turned a blind eye, as if since he made up his mind to devote himself to the world's major affairs. The Ning clan was no longer his treasure. Until this moment. Facing Ning's eyes full of anxiety, Guan Tong's heart had something called guilt for the first time. So the next moment, he strode forward, picked up his son in one hand, and held his wife in the other, and disappeared into the noisy crowd without looking back.

"Lord, who are you looking for?" Guo Jia saw Cai Ji's eyes searching for something in the crowd, and couldn't help but ask jokingly.

"Nothing. I seem to have seen an acquaintance just now. Cai Ji shook his head. returned Yuan Qian in his hand to Mrs. Wu, and turned to talk to Guo Jiapan, "I came all the way, but I saw the villages and villages along the way in Qingzhou. Chickens and dogs smell each other. I never thought that Mr. would be able to set up nearly 10,000 hectares of tuntian in just one year! It is really a blessing for the people of Qingzhou, and a great blessing for loneliness. ”

Guo Jia turned slightly sideways and hugged his fist to Cai Ji and clarified, "Lord Mingjian, this time Qingzhou Tuntian can be so smooth, it is not the work of Jia alone, but the help of Yuan Hao and Ji Qi. ”

When Cai Ji heard that Tian Feng and Cui Yan also participated in Qingzhou Tuntian, he couldn't help but be overjoyed. So he hurriedly turned around and waved his hand to the two of them, "Lone is here to thank the two gentlemen for their help for the people of Qingzhou." ”

Tian Feng and Cui Yan had already decided to assist Cai Ji, and when they saw Cai Ji so polite at this moment, they were flattered and returned the courtesy. Cui Yan said frankly with emotion, "The Lord has won awards." If it weren't for the Lord's policy of exchanging salt for grain, how could we have recruited displaced people, built fields, and dug canals so smoothly. ”

"Oh? What do you mean by that? Cai Ji'er heard Cui Yan mention her salt for food. Immediately came the interest. In other words, this policy of exchanging salt for grain was an expedient measure set by Cai Ji in order to raise grain. Listening to Cui Yan's meaning at this moment, it seems that everyone has made some adjustments to Qingzhou's tuntian policy during the days of her northern expedition.

Sure enough, after exchanging glances with Guo Jia and Tian Feng, Cui Yan smiled knowingly and said, "Don't hide it from the Lord, we are inspired by the Lord's policy of exchanging salt for grain, and use salt to lure salt merchants to spend their financial resources to collect the homeless people to reclaim wasteland." The government collects 30% of the grain collected in Tuncun, and the people keep 50%. The merchant got 20% in exchange for salt. After hearing the news, Jia Haoqiang, a businessman in Qingxu Erzhou. Competing to claim the 'salt lead' to reclaim the wasteland. Now not only Qingzhou, but even Xuzhou has more than 7,000 hectares of 'Yantun'. ”

Cui Yan's explanation surprised Cai Ji. I can't help but think of the Ming Dynasty in later generations, which also used salt in exchange for salt merchants to recruit nomads to reclaim the frontier. In fact, Cai Ji's previous policy of exchanging salt for grain was inspired by the Shang Tun of the Ming Dynasty. It's just that I didn't expect Cui Yan, Tian Feng, and Guo Jia to draw inferences from each other and design a Yantun system similar to Shangtun in the Ming Dynasty. Of course, because they were currently in wartime, Cui Yan and others offered much harsher conditions to Shangjia than those of the Ming Dynasty. So Cai Ji sighed in his heart that the end of the Han Dynasty was indeed an era of talents, and at the same time, he blurted out, "Who came up with this policy?" ”

This time, Cui Yan also stepped aside, and then generously introduced the first hero to Cai Ji, "Back to the Lord, this strategy is from Yuan Hao." ”

"It turned out to be Mr. Yuan Hao's handwriting." Cai Ji bowed to Tian Feng with a little surprise. After all, Tian Feng has always been known for his strategy in history, and this time he was able to show such an expression in governance, which really gave Cai Ji a big surprise.

In fact, in the case of Yantun, although the person who mentioned yì was Tian Feng, if it was not for Cui Yan's correction, Guo Jia's implementation would not have been able to achieve the current results. So at this time, Tian Feng was somewhat embarrassed by Cai Ji's eager gaze. Don't look at him being crazy in front of Yuan Shao, but in the face of the girl in front of him, Tian Feng is difficult to put up a score. This is because Cai Ji has the grace to save his life. Second, because of the many policies implemented by Cai Ji in Donglai and Beihai counties, Tian Feng was quite admired. As the so-called heroes cherish heroes, at this moment, facing the initiator of "salt for grain", Tian Feng couldn't help but discuss with Cai Ji, "With all due respect, when the Lord made the policy of exchanging salt for grain, did you ever think of using salt to attract investment to Tuntian?" ”

If other princes heard Tian Feng's question, most of them would be dissatisfied in their hearts. Think that this bearded man is provoking himself. But Cai Ji didn't think about it at all, but saw her nod and said frankly, "Yes, yes, but not as thoughtful as Mr. Yuan Hao." ”

"So it was." Tian Feng nodded thoughtfully.

Cai Ji saw that Tian Feng saw his original intention of exchanging salt for grain, and immediately asked with great interest, "Then how did Mr. Yuan Hao come up with the idea of using salt to attract investment to Tuntian?" ”

"Don't hide it from the lord, the old man originally wanted to use salt to lure merchants north to reclaim the secluded border pass. It is important to know that the two states are far away from the Central Plains, and it is often expensive to transport grain into the border. When Tian Feng said this, he couldn't help but stroke his beard and smile. As a Hebei celebrity, Tian Feng still hopes in his heart that the good policies he designed can be promoted in Hebei and benefit the people of Hebei. However, in connection with the complex situation in Hebei today, Tian Feng finally changed the conversation and added, "However, the two states are not peaceful at the moment, so we will try this strategy in Qingzhou first to see the results." ”

Cai Ji listened to Tian Feng's narration and finally understood his thinking. In fact, in later generations, the border army of the Song Dynasty exchanged salt for military rations, and the Shangtun of the Ming Dynasty was also formed for the same purpose. The advantage of this is that it can save the cost of transporting military rations to the border for the imperial court, and it can also be easy to manage. Of course, the corresponding businessman will spend a lot of time and energy on this. Especially in the Chengping era, it was far better to buy salt with money than to exchange grain for salt. The policies related to the Song and Ming dynasties were always scrapped and implemented. But now is the chaotic era of the late Han Dynasty, and food is a harder currency than money. What's more, this kind of "Yantun" can still be protected by the Qi army, so it is no wonder that Jia Haoqiang, a businessman in Qing and Xuzhou, will rush to this policy.

So after weighing the pros and cons, Cai Ji immediately clapped his head and said, "This strategy is wonderful!" I asked the three gentlemen to plan a strategy for the lonely good students. ”

——————

Small Theatre Hours:

Xiao Cai: Mr. Fengxiao~~~ I want to die alone~~~ Why is Mr. Spicy today~~~

Guo Jia folded the fan and waved: Guo Jia, who does not sell blood, is not a good Guo Jia~~~ White is Jia's natural attribute~~~ (to be continued)