Wait! ”

Guo Dan suddenly realized a very important question, "Is this Mongolian literate?" ”

As far as he knew, the vast majority of the Central Plains were illiterate, otherwise, he would not have spent so much money on cultivating literate "talents", let alone the Mongols, who carried out a cultural offensive against a group of barbarians, which felt like splitting the sea with a knife.

Aunt Xu shook her head and said, "I don't think you should look at this problem." ”

"So what should I think?" Guo Dan said curiously.

Aunt Xu said: "Can you sell "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" to Mongolians who can't read?" ”

Guo Dan was stunned for a moment, and suddenly sighed: "Looking at it from another angle, this answer is really diametrically opposite." ”

But as he spoke, he frowned again, "But "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is all about strategy, tactics, and strategy, will the Mongols become more powerful after watching "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"?" ”

He vaguely remembered that there was a saying on the Internet, which seemed to say that Nurhachi, or Huang Taiji, took "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" as the art of war and watched, and the result was ...... Da Ming died.

Aunt Xu said with a smile: "If you can dominate the world after watching "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", then Mr. Luo is not invincible in the world." ”

"Uh...... That's just as well. ”

Guo Dan nodded awkwardly.

Aunt Xu said very cautiously: "But I'm not sure if this can be successful, because I only thought of it by chance." ”

"By chance?"

Guo Dan was a little unconvinced.

Because of this trick, he is actually very familiar with it, if the United States' aircraft carrier fleet and aircraft missiles are the sword of the sky, then what values and doctrines are it is the dragon slayer.

Facts have proven that this trick is very powerful, it can fool others to death, and it can fool oneself.

But soft power is the supreme meaning of strategy that emerged hundreds of years later.

Aunt Xu nodded and said, "This is because I saw with my own eyes that you used newspapers and periodicals in Kaifeng Mansion to turn those who were originally opposed to your reading into people who supported you." I was thinking, if you can bring those clever scholars to your side, why can't you bring the savage Mongols with you? ”

Guo Dan nodded, and said in his heart, yes! Actually, I've used this trick inadvertently.

The tricks he played in Kaifeng Mansion were actually soft power tricks.

Although he is not a professional in this field, he reads the news and newspapers every day, and this knowledge is imperceptibly entering his brain.

Of course, this is still because of the update of technology, and he would not have been able to do this without the advancement of printing technology.

Guo Dan said: "But have you ever considered that our Central Plains is farming, while Mongolia is nomadic, which has determined that there is a world of difference between the two in terms of living habits and thoughts. ”

Aunt Xu said: "But the Mongols also do business. ”

Guo Dan blinked, frowned and pondered, yes! The Mongols also do business, the saint's set is not good, my set is good!

Aunt Xu said: "If you can make the five guns become external weapons, then Your Majesty will have a reason to support the five guns, so that the five guns can continue to grow, otherwise, they will definitely continue to attack the five guns, because the five guns are more likely to have flaws than the tooth line, this word is bound to be lost, and this word is exactly what they are best at." ”

If you say too much, you will lose and the power of heaven is unpredictable, which is indeed a very big hidden danger.

This is how many literary prisons came out, but it is not that the emperor deliberately set off the literary prison because he wanted to kill a certain minister.

Guo Dan glanced at Aunt Xu, and said with a smile: "It seems that the layman understands me more and more, and knows that I am a mercenary person, and if I don't have enough benefits, I may not be able to throw my head and spill blood for the country and the people." ”

Aunt Xu smiled: "It's really ironic, most of those loyal ministers and good generals who are dedicated to serving the country and the people will not end well." ”

Guo Dan asked, "I don't know why the layman thinks this is?" ”

Aunt Xu sighed slightly: "I privately think that only by living can I serve the country and the people, so the first thing is to protect myself, and I don't know how to protect myself, and failure is inevitable, which is why Zhang Juzheng can succeed." ”

Guo Dan nodded, and asked again, "What about the layman?" ”

Aunt Xu gave two puzzled looks.

Guo Dan said: "The layman does not hesitate to deign to come to me to help, I don't know if it is for the country and the people, or for himself?" ”

Aunt Xu was silent for a while, and said: "To serve the country and the people is to serve yourself." ”

Guo Dan sighed: "It's so great." ”

Aunt Xu asked, "What about you?" ”

"To serve the country and the people is to serve oneself. This is the standard answer. ”

Guo Dan rolled his eyes, and said: "Regarding the idea of the layman, I have to think about it carefully, this matter is actually not easy to handle, after all, I have this virtue in the Ming Dynasty." ”

Aunt Xu was stunned when she heard this, and after a while, she couldn't help but sigh lightly, "Maybe I'm whimsical." ”

This sentence made her feel that it would not work.

If you want people to admire you, you have to give people a reason, the country is in chaos, corrupt officials and corrupt officials are everywhere, why should people admire you.

Guo smiled lightly: "But it can also be used to draw cakes, anyway, the price is not very large, what if it succeeds." ”

If you play well, it is really a soldier who surrenders without a fight, if you don't play well, it will turn you into a hooligan, a robber.

The most important thing in soft power is packaging.

Can't tell people very bluntly, how strong we are, you have to listen to me, that is actually within the scope of hard power, I will set up a cannon at your door, and ask if you are afraid?

And soft power to make the other party imperceptibly admire you, you can slowly penetrate through commodities or cultural loads, such as clothing, the surrounding areas feel that the clothes produced in the Central Plains are good, for example, the Central Plains is well written, and there are some private goods in it.

For example, the system, uh..... Let's skip this for the time being, cough cough, after all, Guo Dan doesn't know much about this.

This is a profession that requires careful investigation and analysis before it can be carried out.

However, no matter how you play it, this iron still needs its own hardness, and soft power is based on hard power, but fortunately, some ministers of the imperial court are also aware of this problem and hope to be reformed.

Reform is now underway.

It's just that the eyes of the whole city are focused on the five guns, and it seems that they have forgotten that the imperial court is preparing for tariff reform, but in fact, everyone has not forgotten, but they already know the answer, and look forward to the answer coming soon.

That is contracted by Guo Dan.

But in fact, Wang Jiaping, Wang Xijue, and Song Qi have been working hard to formulate a tariff system, and they discuss it until midnight every day.

But they were very careful and didn't do it with great fanfare, because this matter is not so simple, they want Guo Dan to implement reforms, not really to deal with Guo Dan.

They say one thing on the surface, and secretly discuss it in the deuteronomy.

"Alas... Nowadays, there are many people in the DPRK and China who hope to introduce a new tariff system before the five-gun shareholding system, but I wonder how you are doing? Shen Shixing was a little helpless.

said that it was not aimed at Guo Dan, in fact, everyone wanted to target it, and the ministers have been urging, hurry up, if it is late, the daylily will be cold.

Wang Jiaping first glanced at Wang Xijue, and then said: "We think that it is only in vain to reform the tariffs, because the state capitals now collect commercial taxes from merchants under various names, so no matter how we improve the tariffs, the local government can make adjustments through other commercial taxes, which is meaningless."

If you want to reform the tariff, you must first integrate the commercial tax, so that the commercial tax becomes simpler and more effective, which is also convenient for the direct control of the imperial court, we suggest that the commercial tax be integrated into two parts: the tariff and the municipal tax, the municipal tax will be collected by the local government, and the tariff will be jointly responsible for the official tooth and the imperial court, the official tooth will be responsible for issuing invoices, and the imperial court will be responsible for collecting money. ”

Shen Shixing nodded, of course he agreed, this undoubtedly strengthened the cabinet's power over finance, as for the city tax, it is difficult for the imperial court to control it, why not hand it over to the local government, it can be regarded as giving an explanation to the local government to make up for the finances of the local government. Asked: "Since the integration is two, I don't know how much is more appropriate?" ”

Wang Xijue immediately told Shen Shixing of Liu Zongcheng's suggestion, abolishing the system of 30 taxes and one tax, and instead taxing according to the type of goods.

When Shen Shixing heard this, he understood that you were changing the law to tax the rich, and said worriedly: "This may cause opposition from many people. ”

Wang Xijue said: "Lord Shoufu, according to the information investigated by the Ministry of Households, a large number of expensive goods are now from Weihui Mansion, including rouge, porcelain, Spring Palace paintings, leather boots, etc., we can tell them that this is done to restrict the development of Weihui Mansion."

At the same time, you can also tell Your Majesty that we have exempted the grain tariff, which is conducive to the development of Weihui Mansion, and we are not targeting Weihui Mansion. ”

Shen Shixing nodded, and suddenly felt that this move was really good!

It is not clear locally, but the ministers of the DPRK and China are all resolutely anti-Guo Dan, but Wanli has already spoken, and they cannot blatantly target the Weihui Mansion, and the cabinet can use this ingenious tariff system to convince both the ministers of the DPRK and the emperor to convince them.

Pleasing on both sides, it is very much in line with his character.

Shen Shixing asked again: "But how much revenue can this add to the treasury?" ”

Wang Jiaping said: "Lord Shoufu, we can't calculate this at present, but according to our investigation, the reason why the commercial tax is increasing day by day is that the salt tax has been sharply reduced, and the local government is not allowed to increase the commercial tax to make up for the gap, and the salt tax is very important to our court's finances, and it is difficult to increase the revenue of the treasury if the salt tax is not reformed." ”

When Shen Shixing heard this, he couldn't help frowning, and said: "Regarding the salt tax, since Your Majesty ascended the throne, there have been many debates, but in the end, they all ended in nothing, and the reason is that the salt law has been rotten for a long time and is difficult to reverse. ”

In all dynasties, the salt tax was the top priority, and the Ming Dynasty also carried out many reforms, but it was changed and changed, and eventually it fell into the hands of the powerful, and the bureaucrats colluded with the salt merchants to make a windfall.

These big salt merchants may be caught casually, they may be rich and rival the country, and they are very terrifying existences.

However, the money should have been from the imperial court.

"It is precisely because of this that we must reform the salt tax to increase the revenue of the state treasury," Wang said. ”

Shen Shixing asked, "What are you going to do?" ”

Wang Xijue said: "I have carefully studied the salt law of my dynasty with Zhongbo, although it has undergone several changes, but one thing has not changed, that is, the number of people who sell salt is limited, the boundary is restricted, and the salt is transported to the designated place by the designated merchants.

This eventually led to the collusion between officials and salt merchants to control the salt profits, which quickly depleted the treasury and caused the people to suffer, even if the imperial court could regain control, it would still end up in the hands of the ministers, and the situation would not change in the slightest.

After discussing with Zhongbo, I felt that since I could no longer control it, I would simply let it go, as long as I bought salt from the imperial court, I could sell salt, so as to break the current situation of big salt merchants controlling the salt profits, and at the same time cancel the land boundary restrictions, so that more merchants can participate in the salt sales, and the imperial court only needs to use salt-making tools to strengthen the control of salt-producing areas. ”

In fact, it is to break the whole into parts, break them one by one, a single group, they want to collude, the power is very huge, the cabinet may not be able to fight, but if it is dispersed, then who dares not to pay taxes.

Shen Shixing said: "Although this can break the situation of big salt merchants controlling salt profits, it is also difficult for those small salt merchants to sell salt to the border. ”

If the border army does not have salt to eat, then it will be an ironclad rebellion, but long-distance sales must be done by big salt merchants, and small merchants do not have this strength.

Wang Jiaping said: "The imperial court can buy silver to attract merchants to sell salt to the border areas. At the same time, the imperial court can spend money to buy salt from salt merchants for the needs of the border army. ”

Shen Shixing said: "Won't that increase the expenditure of the national treasury? ”

Wang Xijue said: "If we can take back the salt profits, this money is nothing." Moreover, the imperial court already needs to supply grain and salt to the border army, and if the grain from the border can supply the border army, it will save the imperial court a lot of money. ”

Shen Shixing thought for a while, and said: "This matter can't be rushed, let's reform the commercial tax first, if we reform the salt tax at the same time, I'm afraid the gains will outweigh the losses!" ”

When Wang Xijue and Wang Jiaping heard this, they couldn't help but glance at each other, with a slight disappointment in their eyes.

Shen Shixing saw it in his eyes and sighed secretly in his heart.