Thinking of this, Chen Shang said again:

"Master Wei, the old man has some words, I don't know whether to say them or not."

Chen Shang's words were meaningful, and Bai Liyan (Wei Xian) suddenly stopped and said:

"Lord Zaiji, but it doesn't hurt to say it."

"Since the introduction of the Xintian system by Lord Wei for a year, the appearance of our Xianguo has been a new one, and the achievements of Lord Wei have been great, and the new atmosphere of the Xianguo for hundreds of years has been obvious to all colleagues. However, there are many hidden drawbacks in the new policy, have you ever seen it? ”

"Since it is a new deal, there will definitely be shortcomings, Wei does not deny it. Therefore, the Xintian system will be implemented between Yongxing City and Chengling first, and the drawbacks will be found and made up in time. I don't know what the hidden drawbacks mentioned by Lord Zaiji refer to, can you make it clear? ”

"In that case, can Lord Wei know why the price of salt in my Xianguo is so low?"

"The price of salt? Salt price ...... There is no problem with the price of salt, but what is the bottom of what Lord Zai Zhi is referring to? ”

"Salt requires manpower to cut trees, mow grass, carry water, boil, transport, and distribute, and other Wei adults should not need to be reminded by this official."

"Shhh...... It's a recluse! ”

King Xian is the largest salt lord in the Xian country, after the establishment of the salt lord armed forces in various places were all absorbed by the salt lord, and the salt lord attached to the salt king on the condition that the salt lord contracted the salt industry to the salt lord, so the salt iron of the salt country is not monopolized like other vassal states, the salt is monopolized by the salt lord privately, and the salt lord privately talks with the king of salt every year to share the tax account, so there is no real power in the court salt officials.

In order to stabilize the status of the king of salt and the people's livelihood, the price of salt can not be too high, and the salt lord is still a big exporter of salt, so the salt lord can still make huge profits by exporting salt abroad, and the domestic market is not big enough, and the price is not too high.

At present, there are only two ways of edible salt, one is well salt, the other is boiling salt, there is no salt drying technology, and the salty country is mainly boiling salt, so it requires a lot of manpower to plant artemisia grass, cut trees, transport seawater, boil salt, transport salt, all processes cost tens of thousands of manpower.

And most of these manpower are hermits, slaves, and lowly people of the salt lords, to put it bluntly, they do not need to pay the poll tax and employment tax, and the highest privilege of labor exploitation is tacitly approved by the king of salt.

Previously, Bai Liyan proposed to abolish the untouchables, but the king of Xian did not approve it, and later took half a step back and opened the threshold of atonement for the untouchables, which also moved the interests of the salt lords.

Once the Xintian system is pushed across the country and pushed to the base camp of the salt lords, the consequences will be obvious, people will go to higher places, water will flow to lower places, where the days will be better, and where the original hard-working and tired Ding households will all go to farm and work, and who will go back to cook salt.

The salt lord is the largest privileged class of the Xian country, and Chen Shang's implication is that he cannot move, and moving the salt lord is equivalent to moving the foundation of the king of Xian, and it is a political struggle to the death. Now the salt lord buys the account of Baili Yan, it is because the Xianguo still needs you, and when you are not needed, it is possible to put it on the shelf. At that time, no matter how good the New Deal is, it will be nothing more than a castle in the air.

Thinking about all this, Baili Yanfu smiled:

"Hehe, thank you Lord Zai for the warning, Wei has his own way to crack it."

"Oh, that's good, that's good......"

Chen Shang maintained the politeness on his face, but he was not optimistic about Bai Liyan's rhetoric.

After the dispersal of the dynasty, a group of officials have returned to the state political prison, what to do and what to do, after Gao Xun worshiped under the door of Uncle Guang, recommended by Uncle Guang, he is now the concubine of King Xian, and the current foreign deacon Xun Mu is the political envoy.

King Xian once privately revealed that after a while, he would be promoted to the post of chief historian. Since it is a long history, it is one step closer to the prime minister.

"Tall, busy."

"Lord Wei, how can you have time to come here today, it won't be something to entrust you."

"Hehe......" Bai Liyan smiled lightly and said: "Brother Gao, who knows me, really doesn't hide it from Brother Gao, there is indeed something to ask for." ”

Gao Xun put down his pen and ink, stood up and pulled Baili Yan to the verandah outside the hall:

"What is the matter with the virtuous brother, even if he says it"

"What news did the king send Liang Guo back a month ago?"

"It doesn't seem to be, could it be that Lord Wei is piggybacking on some personal matter?"

"That's the case, I ask the king to hire a master scholar from Liang to come to Xianguo to preach and teach."

"Isn't Lord Wei already running a few schools in Yongxing City, isn't it enough?"

"Of course not. Bachelors from all over the country gathered in Chenling, which has been threatened repeatedly in recent years, and countless people have fled after hearing the news, and less than one in ten has left, where do you let me get so many teaching gentlemen. ”

Rejuvenating the country before rejuvenating religion, only by accumulating talents can we strengthen the country, which is an eternal and enduring truth. After the expansion of the Yongxing City Workshop, this problem became more and more prominent.

Almost half of the country's elite craftsmen are concentrated in Yongxing City, and the scale of the workshop has been expanded three times, and the number of craftsmen can no longer meet the production demand, so they can only recruit students from the army, the people, and even open to women, which has led to the increasingly prominent problem of illiteracy.

Not to mention that many craftsmen can't recognize all the words, the inheritance and development of technology innovation are inseparable from the most basic reading and literacy, and if the basic literacy problem is not solved, the development of Yongxing City will sooner or later encounter a bottleneck caused by a lack of talents.

For this reason, after the grain shortage was alleviated in the second half of last year, Bailiyan recruited teachers and masters of Chinese culture from all over the country, including the Tongshu Garden in Chenling, to go to the government-run Shutang Shuyuan in Yongxing City and Chenling.

All expenses incurred are paid by the Yongxing Chengxian Military Camp, and the objects of education are craftsmen and military attachés, so it is only a temporary basic reading and literacy problem, and cannot fundamentally solve the inheritance of basic education and technology.

Therefore, it is necessary to run schools on a larger scale and more extensively, starting from Yongxing and Chenling, and concentrate resources to open a number of basic education and cultivate talents.

After five years and ten years, with a solid foundation, political stability, and a reduction in military threats, more schools will be requisitioned and established, radiating from Chengling and Yongxing to the capital counties and developed areas, and finally to the whole country, and at the same time establishing middle and higher education, forming a virtuous circle.

The reason why it is necessary to introduce masters of Chinese culture from Liang is that Liang is a political suzerainty after all, and its political status has incomparable superiority.

Second, Xianguo and Liangguo both belong to the Central Plains script, and the accent and writing are relatively similar, which is easy to standardize. Third, Liang has a high literacy rate and the average education density ranks first among all countries, so Liang has a large number of masters of Chinese culture, and it is reasonable to hire them to preach and teach, and there are no political fears and obstacles.

"Brother Xian, have you ever thought that hiring so many masters of Chinese culture, and the scholars are all free, and the annual expenditure is huge?" Gao Xun said.

"For the time being, it is allocated by the Yongxing City Xingying, and it is currently limited to the craftsmen, military attaches and a few sons in Yongxin City, and it is not promoted by the whole county and the whole country, but what Lord Gao said has to be considered, this expenditure really has to be planned, otherwise it will be difficult to continue in the future."

"Right now, the treasury has just taken a breath, and Lord Wei is going to use money everywhere, which can make it difficult for the king. The huge amount of money at the beginning is now very little, and it is difficult to sustain it for a long time, and if Lord Wei wants to set up education, money and food are undoubtedly a big problem. ”

"Well, Wei will consider this matter in detail, if there is news here, be sure to inform Wei as soon as possible, Wei will not bother, and will leave first."

"Okay, brother Xian, go slowly!"

Gao Xun's reminder made Bai Liyan realize that the current difficulty is indeed not only to solve the problem of eating, but also to solve the problem of national taxation.

Agriculture had just recovered, but tax revenues remained at an all-time low, and the copper coins of the Xianguo were now only in circulation in the country, and the hard currency was still gold, silver, and some treasures. Since it was rumored that Xianguo had a large number of pearls, the price of pearls also began to plunge all the way.

Although trade is more convenient than before, the country is in a state of war after all, and most of the materials are expensive military materials, and it is difficult to meet the long-term import of military materials by relying only on the gold and silver accumulated by the trade surplus of civilian goods.

Although under the instructions of Bailiyan, Yongxing City has successively produced many new products for export to generate income, but it is still no match for the consumption of war, and if it is replaced by peacetime, Xianguo will be a powerful country on the rich side.

And now, no matter how many commodities and no matter how good the technology, it is just a matter of listening to the sound when it is put into the battle array.

Leaving the palace, Bai Liyan did not rush back to the palace, and rode to the Luhou Mansion.

The Marquis of Lu was named after the fief sealed in the city of Lu, and it is the Hou with the longest history in the Xian country, and there is no one, only one. The base camp of all the salt lords is located in Lucheng, and even the early years of King Xian are also in Lucheng.

Luhou Xue Teng is the head of the seven salt lords behind the scenes of King Xian, he never asks about political affairs, nor does he interfere in military affairs, but he is responsible for recruiting secret agents and forbidden troops in the inner palace for King Xian, and taking care of the property of King Xian's inner mansion.

Coming to the outside of the Luhou Mansion, it is difficult to imagine that the owner who lives here will be the number one person in the Xianguo country. But the four sword-wielding warriors standing outside the gate of the mansion could be seen with cold and fierce eyes scanning every suspicious person who passed in front of the gate of the mansion.

Turning over and dismounting, Bailiyan handed the tooth card to the samurai:

"Tired of your master, the great Sima envoy Wei Xian to meet the Marquis of Lu."

The samurai looked at the man in front of him carefully, but he was quite kind:

"It's the Great Sima Envoy, please wait!"

The warrior turned around and entered the house, and then reported the news to the steward, who hurried to the atrium, where the Marquis was playing against a young man in a green robe with a crown of rosewood, and the steward came to the Marquis of Lu to report:

"Master Hou, the Great Sima sent Wei Xian to pay a visit."

"Oh!" Xue Teng was surprised, put away the chess pieces that had fallen in half, and said, "Invite him here." ”

"No"

The steward turned to leave, and the man who was playing against Lu Hou also put away the endgame on the chessboard and said:

"Wei Xian is here, it must be for the matter of the hidden household, how is the Hou Ye going to deal with it?"

"If he doesn't come, Ben Hou will go to him sooner or later, since he came early, it will save him trouble in the future."

"Then I will retire first."

"Okay, please go to the inner house for a while."

The man gave a slight salute, then turned and went straight to the backyard.