After Li Kuan entered the Taiji Palace, he was taken directly to the imperial study.

After the little eunuch brought the people in, he quietly went out, leaving Li Kuan alone to watch Li Shimin review the recitals there.

I don't know if it's because there are too many political affairs or whether I want to dry Li Kuan, Li Shimin has been busy there without raising his head.

Seeing this scene, Li Kuan didn't say anything, stood there by himself, and took the opportunity to take a good look at the imperial study.

In the study room of Nuoda, there are a lot of books, judging from the maintenance status of some books, it seems that they are not yet the goods, Li Shimin should have really read them.

In addition to the books on the shelves, the furnishings in the imperial study are actually very simple, and they are not full of all kinds of famous calligraphy and paintings and precious treasures as outsiders imagine.

"Why, if I don't ask you, you're dumb?"

After about a quarter of an hour, Li Shimin put down the brush in his hand and looked at Li Kuan with an unkind face.

"Your Majesty has every opportunity, and Weichen doesn't dare to disturb wantonly."

Li Kuan lowered his head and pretended to be a good baby.

At this time, Li Shimin obviously still had anger in his stomach, no matter what Li Kuan said, it was wrong, it was better to simply admit his mistake and put on a sincere attitude of admitting his mistakes.

"Do you know why I let you enter the palace as soon as you return to Beijing?"

"Weichen doesn't dare to figure out the holy will privately!"

"If you do this again, I'll be really angry." Li Shimin felt depressed.

"Wechen should not visit other countries without will, please forgive your majesty." Li Kuan continued to bow his head and said: "However, when I went to the Wa Kingdom, Weichen found a very important matter, which is related to the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty and cannot be underestimated. ”

"Is this a question of private travel? Don't you know how dangerous it is to go to sea? ”

Li Kuan's understatement made Li Shimin unhappy for a while.

"Tell me about what very important things you discovered?"

"Your Majesty doesn't know if you have noticed that Chang'an City has become more and more prosperous in the past two years, and there are countless Kaiyuan Tongbao circulating in the east and west cities every day, but sometimes, merchants often feel that the copper coins are not enough."

"Not enough copper coins? What do you mean? ”

"Yes, there are two meanings in this. On the one hand, there are many copper coins needed in the market, but the number minted by the imperial court is limited; Another meaning is that the value of copper coins is too low, just like buying a hundred yuan of things, if you pay for all the copper coins, then a person can't carry them with you. ”

Li Shimin heard of this question for the first time, but he couldn't reflect the impact of this for a while.

"Your Majesty, there is no agriculture, no stability, no business, no wealth. If Datang wants to be rich and prosperous, the development of commerce is indispensable, but the current situation of copper coins has restricted the development of commerce. ”

"What does this have to do with you going to the Wa Kingdom?"

"Nature is related. In the eyes of His Majesty, what kind of country is the Wa Kingdom? ”

It is recorded in the Book of Sui that the Wa Kingdom was located in the southeast of Baekje and Silla, with 3,000 miles of land and water, in the middle of the sea, and lived on mountain islands. The Yi people do not know the number of miles, but they remember the day, and their borders are in May in the east and west, and March in the north and south, and each is as far as the sea. Its topography is high in the east and down in the west. ”

As an excellent emperor, Li Shimin still knows very well about the situation in the history books.

"And then? How many people does Your Majesty think the country has, rich or poor? ”

Unconsciously, the dominance of the topic was in the hands of Li Kuan.

"If I'm not mistaken, there is no record of the population of the Wa Kingdom in the history books, but there should be about a million people. As for whether you are rich or not, hum, a remote and small country, with few people and few people, it must be that the people are poor and the people are not happy. ”

It is estimated that Li Shimin's view represents the view of many ministers of the DPRK and China.

"Your Majesty, there are at least three million people in the Wa Kingdom, and although the land is small and the people are indeed poor, the Wa Kingdom is not poor."

"Do you want to talk about the more than one million taels of silver you brought back from the Wa Kingdom this time? With the strength of the country, it is not surprising that it has been accumulated over the years, and there are more than one million taels. ”

Li Shimin felt that Li Kuan should be ready to show credit to himself.

"With more than one million taels like this, Weichen can do it again every two months. If this is the case, will Your Majesty still feel that the country is poor? ”

Hearing Li Kuan say this, Li Shimin's face became serious.

As an emperor, many of the twists and turns that are reviewed every day are for money and grain, and the household department often cries poor.

Therefore, Li Shimin knows very well the meaning of money for an imperial court.

"Is that true?"

"There will be more, not less!"

Li Shimin stared at Li Kuan's eyes and was silent for a while, "I don't agree with you continuing to go to sea!" ”

"Your Majesty, it doesn't matter if Weichen doesn't go to sea or not, as long as the East China Sea fishery continues to go to sea."

Li Shimin was noncommittal.

"Did you set up that city division to continue to go to sea in the future?"

"Your Majesty, you must have heard about the harvest of the East China Sea fishery this time. With the East China Sea fishery taking the lead, there will soon be a variety of fleets of West Sea fishery, South China Sea fishery, and North Sea fishery to follow to the sea.

In addition to the Tang Dynasty, there are Wa Kingdom, Baekje, Silla, Goguryeo, Lingeup, Ryukyu, Lion Kingdom, Persia, Rome...... There are many countries, and the benefits contained in them are very amazing, and if the imperial court does not levy a city tax, then this profit will basically go into the pockets of various families. ”

"Datang continues the Sui system and does not levy commercial tax, and this city's foreign tax is essentially a commercial tax, right?"

Li Shimin immediately pointed to the key point of the problem.

"That's right, there is essentially no difference between selling goods from Datang to foreign countries and selling goods from Lingnan Road to Guanzhong. Weichen naturally knew that the increase in commercial tax was a big matter, and if he was not careful, it would lead to disaster, so he closed the sea tax, and at present, it is only collected from the East China Sea fishery. ”

With such an explanation, Li Shimin also roughly guessed Li Kuan's thoughts.

"Since ancient times, it has been heavy agriculture and suppressed business, how do you make me believe that encouraging business will not lead to the fluctuation of people's hearts, and the foundation of Datang is unstable?" Li Shimin asked what he was most worried about.

"Your Majesty, all dynasties and dynasties have indeed been heavy on agriculture and suppressed business; But are those dynasties still there? ”

Li Shimin's face changed and he didn't speak.

There was silence in the study.

"Your Majesty, anything that is conducive to improving the technical level of all walks of life in Datang, anything that is conducive to enhancing Datang's comprehensive national strength, and anything that is conducive to improving the living standards of the people of Datang, Weichen thinks that it can be done."

Li Shimin fell silent again, and after a long while, he waved his hand: "I know!" Stand down! ”

Li Kuan glanced at Li Shimin a little depressed, I know what it means?

I don't know.