"Shopkeeper Chen, do you have any other good ideas?"

As soon as these words came out, Cao Cao looked at Chen Yang expectantly, and his eyes were a little hot.

"The salt produced by our salt mines, as well as all the salt mines that we may come into contact with in the future, must all be in the hands of the imperial court, that is, the hands of the prime minister, and be distributed and sold by the imperial court in a unified manner, and the sale of illicit salt will be severely cracked down."

Chen Yang continued: "You can't enrich the country without boiling salt, and during the Spring and Autumn Period, Guan Zhong nationalized all the production and sales of salt, making Qi a hegemon. One of Shang Ying's reforms is also about the regulation of salt and iron, so Qin can sweep the six countries and dominate the world, what do you think, Lao Cao? ”

Cao Cao was silent for a while, and his eyes fell on Guo Jia and Xun Yu, wanting to see what their suggestions were.

Xun Yuxian said: "According to what you said, Emperor Wu also implemented such a measure during the period of Emperor Wu, but the consequence only increased the burden on the people, so that the people could not afford salt and could only eat light food. ”

Guo Jia's idea is different, he said: "I think the shopkeeper Chen is right, the income of salt and iron has always been one of the important sources of the treasury, such as today's chaos, the control of salt and iron is not as strict as before, so most of the income of salt and iron falls into the hands of those families, if salt and iron can be owned by the imperial court, it can weaken the power of the family." ”

Xun Yu thought for a while, but he still shook his head and said: "The control of salt and iron during the period of Emperor Wu has caused dissatisfaction among many people, and I am afraid that it is inappropriate. ”

Chen Yang explained: "That's because Emperor Wu's move is not the most correct, as long as we can control the price of salt, make it as affordable as possible for the common people, and the imperial court will not lose money, wouldn't it be the best of both worlds?" ”

"Lao Wen, you should take a look at the "Treatise on Salt and Iron" written by Huan Kuan during the Zhao Emperor period, which is a correction of the salt and iron problem during the Emperor Wu period."

Chen Yang paused for a moment and continued: "If the prime minister wants to achieve great things, salt and iron must be firmly controlled. ”

Recalling the various measures taken against the salt and iron system in history, it is not difficult for Chen Yang to find that as long as the imperial court is short of money, it will basically start from this aspect.

Now Cao Cao is in the predicament of financial shortage, and selling wine can only last for a while, and the money will always be spent. If you need to think in the long run, in addition to taxes, it is the control of salt and iron, which has been the case in all dynasties.

Xun Yu fell into deep thought and stopped talking.

Guo Jia agreed with Chen Yang's idea, and at this moment he nodded slightly in agreement.

After a long time, Cao Cao said solemnly: "Shopkeeper Chen, you are right, I will definitely tell the prime minister the truth about this matter, whether it is the salt mine outside Xudu, or the sea salt in Qingzhou, Jiangdong and other places, we must be in our hands." ”

Chen Yang said: "Also, now that the grain problem is half solved, but the harvest problem has not been completely solved, this time you can deceive the grain merchants in the world, if there is another big drought, those grain merchants are not so easy to deceive." ”

This sentence directly hit Cao Cao's sore spot, the problem of lack of food has existed since the beginning of the incident, and he hurriedly asked: "How should this be solved?" ”

Guo Jia and Xun Yu didn't think about this aspect, but they couldn't find a way to solve it, and they also looked at Chen Yang.

"First of all, we should build a large number of water conservancy projects." Chen Yang said.

They all know what Tuntian is, but what about water conservancy projects?

Guo Jia asked: "Shopkeeper Chen, what is this water conservancy project?" ”

Chen Yang explained: "Now that there is a Quyuan plow, the problem of manpower for land reclamation and cultivation has basically been solved, and the only thing left that affects the grain harvest is whether there is a drought!" ”

In ancient times, the peasants basically watched the sky for food, and the previous irrigation and water conservancy technology was very backward, and if it suddenly did not rain, the people would have to starve.

Chen Yang said: "The water conservancy project is to solve the problem of cultivation from the source of drought, which is more troublesome to explain, and after you finish fighting Yuan Shu and Lu Bu, I will talk to you in detail when I have time." ”

Xun Yu asked, "Shopkeeper Chen, are you saying that you have a way to solve the problem of being able to grow grain even if there is a big drought?" ”

"That's right!" Chen Yang nodded.

Xun Yu said puzzledly: "How is this possible? If it doesn't rain, the land is dry and hard, and the crops can't be moistened by the rain, so you can't cultivate at all, unless you can make it rain heavily. ”

Guo Jia also had doubts in his heart, and asked expectantly: "Shopkeeper Chen, how does your water conservancy project solve the problem of drought?" ”

Chen Yang shook his head: "I told you that I don't have time to do it at the moment, and when the food is enough, it is better to pack up Yuan Shu and Lu Bu first, and then make time to do it slowly, I can't be in a hurry." ”

Seeing that Guo Jia and the others were still going to ask, Cao Cao waved his hand and said, "I have listened to the shopkeeper Chen, who has brought us so many surprises, and I believe that the water conservancy project will be no exception." ”

Chen Yang nodded and said: "There is another point, the prime minister wants to calm the world, and he has to act on meritocracy to restrain those powerful families." ”

As soon as this sentence came out, Cao Cao had to sigh again in his heart, Shopkeeper Chen really understood himself.

Talent, Chen Yang has already vividly explained to him with a "Short Song Xing", but there is still a long way to go to suppress those families, and it is difficult to do it in a short period of time.

"The family and the scholar clan are all behemoths, and the Han Dynasty is basically defeated on this." Guo Jia sighed.

Chen Yang nodded: "Lao Guo is right, okay, I have given you the things to improve the combat effectiveness of the cavalry, just wait for Lao Cao to give me a reward, I hope you can come back as soon as possible and safely on this expedition." ”

"If it's okay, let's go back first."

Bidding farewell to Cao Cao and the others, Chen Yang took Wang Yue out of the barracks.

"Feng Xiao, Wen Ruo, do you think that water conservancy project is really so powerful? If it doesn't rain, you can't farm, is it possible that the shopkeeper Chen can still make it rain? Cao Cao continued to ponder this question.

"If that's the case, Shopkeeper Chen is a god." Xun Yu shook his head, he was a little skeptical about this matter.

Guo Jia said: "The methods of the shopkeeper Chen are endless, and they are difficult to understand, maybe it can really be?" ”

Cao Cao nodded solemnly and said: "That's right, I am very much looking forward to whether this water conservancy project can be implemented, and there is the strict control of salt and iron, Shopkeeper Chen analyzed it very thoroughly, and the question of the family and the family...... I probably have an idea that I can suppress, go back to Xudu, and I will let you see a good thing invented by Shopkeeper Chen, which can be used to rebel against the family. ”

The good thing he talks about is that kind of paper.

"Mother, is that Chen Yang really that powerful?"

Cao Ning listened to those internal affairs questions, and she didn't seem to understand, but she also felt that Chen Yang seemed to be very powerful, and he could talk eloquently in front of his father, especially Guo Jiadu, as the chief strategist, respected Chen Yang so much.

"Ning'er, maybe Chen Zi'an is a good man worth marrying, do you want to think about it again?" Mrs. Ding looked at Chen Yang's departing back and said.

"Humph! I don't want it. Cao Ning said a little arrogantly, but she also peeked at Chen Yang's back, and she was a little unconvinced in her heart, why couldn't he look at himself properly?

Am I not good-looking?

Hmph, men are big pigs' trotters!

"Father, the man wants to see you!"

At this time, Cao Ang walked out of the barracks and said.