Zhu Pingjin returned to his chair and closed his eyes to think.

Later generations used the method of land redemption to peacefully solve the problem of excessive land annexation. But this is not feasible at the moment. Wouldn't it be said that Zhu Pingjin didn't have so much silver to redeem, and it was also a problem if the gentry were willing to sell. Redemption is conditional, that is, the powerful state apparatus behind it. At present, the price of grain is as high as three taels and one stone, and farming is very profitable, how can the gentry be willing to sell their land?

It is certainly possible to use bandits or rogues. But this approach is politically tainted and the opportunity is fleeting, making it difficult to grasp. The reason why Sun Hong resolutely opposes it is also because the side effects of this method are too great, which is the so-called "jade burning". Once it spreads out of control, it can cause long-term turmoil!

Sun Hong was prostrate on the ground, his palms sweating. The conversation between the prince and Wei Chen at the door, Sun Hong heard it clearly. The prince obviously lost patience with those local tyrants and shoddy gentry, and wanted to kill. But in this way, the gentry class will immediately turn to the opposite side of the royal palace, and become an obstacle to the prince's future advancement into the world!

And this is what Sun Hong is most worried about!

Thinking of the sentence "Wen Death Admonition, Martial Death Battle", Sun Hong couldn't help but feel courage:

"Shizi, please listen to the minister!"

Sun Hong crawled forward and crouched at the feet of Zhu Pingjin: "Those gentry should be guilty, but the crime will not lead to death." The minister thought that there were three crimes:

The first crime is to embezzle taxes and leave the soldiers without food.

The second crime is to tyrannize the villagers and cause them to cause chaos.

The third crime is to collude with the government and cause no law and order! ”

"Since there are these three sins, with my law, how can I not sin to death!" Zhu Pingjin asked sternly.

"Sin is not unto death, not because of the size of his sin, but because the superior judge the situation!" Sun Hong knocked again.

"Han Guangwu is wise and martial, how can he not know the harm of gentry annexation! However, in the end, there is only one purpose to suppress the merger! However, with this alone, the gentry rebelled everywhere! Emperor Guangwu had no choice but to retract his will and change to the law of Dutian.

Fei Guangwu is weak by nature, but it is just because the gentry are powerful. Jianwu (Note 1) measured land, verified household registration, and increased taxes, but did not inhibit annexation. As a result, there were far fewer rebels. Even though a few officials such as the great Situ Ouyang Shu (XI, Tongxi) and the county guard Zhang Ling (JI) colluded with the county surname and even launched a rebellion, how many gentry in the world dared to rebel! So the law of Dutian was carried out, and this was the 'rule of the Ming Chapter'!

Song Taizu was pushed by the generals, and he did not suppress the merger, did not kill the heroes, did not kill the ministers, and established the law as the ancestors. At the end of the Song Dynasty, the gentry did not become harmful, but enriched the common people.

For example, the gentry are as powerful as the gentry today, just like the Taizu of the Han Guangwu Song Dynasty! Therefore, the minister thought that the prince could only follow the trend! ”

Sun Hong desperately admonished, hoping to stop Zhu Pingjian's impatient thoughts.

He further explained to Zhu Pingjin that among the gentry, the local tyrants and inferior gentry were always in the minority. For the very few gentry who used their own or their family status, they could be cleared in order to deter others, but it was best to use the hands of the government or thieves and bandits, and the royal government could not intervene.

For the majority of the law-abiding gentry, it is necessary to win over. The main reason why these people didn't buy Zhu Pingjin was that the palace enjoyed the mansion but did not govern the people, and they had no legal rights to these gentry, so they were despised by the gentry. To win over the gentry, one is the position; the second is Lelu; The third is to strengthen the position of the royal palace. Let them feel that it is worth the money to take refuge in the palace; Oppose the palace, and the net worth is not guaranteed!

……

The stern attitude towards Sun Hong just now was more pretended by Zhu Pingjin. He had to put pressure on his men to see how they were doing and test their loyalty.

Sun Hong's performance made him very satisfied, so he called Sun Hong and revealed his true thoughts:

"For the gentry, it is necessary to use it and guard against it; It is necessary to win over and strike; It is necessary not only to know the righteousness and strive for the enlightened gentry, but also to ruthlessly crack down and eradicate the local tyrants and inferior gentry. It's called: one hand is soft, the other hand is hard!

The policy of dedication is still the same, and it is necessary to give it a way out and allow it benefits.

The benefits of the land are in the grain. However, the benefits of industry and commerce are ten times greater than that of land. This prince has discussed with Miss Luo to open the largest money bank in Shu. Take the meaning of Huitong Quanshu, and the name is 'Huitong Qianzhuang'. Public offering of Huitong Bank. If the gentry wished, the prince of the world allowed them to take shares in silver or grain, and share in the money.

Before leaving, this prince also asked Master Shu to come forward and do a literary event in Shudi. Regardless of whether they have merit or not, whether they can write Bagu articles, as long as they can read and write, they can participate. This prince will use this amount to hire as a staff member of the palace. Once hired, they can be granted treatment, and the son of this world will be treated as a mentor and friend. If you make a contribution to my palace, my palace can recommend you to join the office, just like Mr. Gao and Mr. He. It is expected that in the name of the Wenyuan of the Shu Palace, a lot of talents can also be recruited. The palace is full of talents, and it gives the gentry a way out, the best of both worlds. The prince of this world should also set up a newspaper to publicize the idea of protecting the country and the people, exposing the tax evasion of the lawless gentry, and praising the enlightened gentry for their good deeds and charitable donations......"

When Zhu Pingjin talked about food, he suddenly thought of a secret agreement with Liao Daheng on the way to Yongxingchang. The agreement only stipulated that the amount of land that Zhu Pingjin received was linked to the amount of Liao Daheng's silver, but did not stipulate Liao Daheng's obligation to assist Zhu Pingjin in receiving the donated land. Since Sun Hong has been accepted as a confidant, Zhu Pingjin did not hesitate, and told him about the secret agreement with Liao Daheng.

Sun Hong listened, and his face was a little shocked. In his imagination, the relationship between the palace and the government is an extremely important link, and it is also the most uncertain, after all, the imperial court's ban policy has strict restrictions on the behavior of the palace, and he did not expect that the prince and Liao Daheng have colluded together, and the collusion is so close. His brain was racing, and he immediately had a few great ideas.

"Shizi, the two teams of our Shang and Zhuang are all set up to suppress bandits and quell chaos, and the people of my Shu government are all beneficiaries. That being the case, it seems unreasonable for my royal family to pay for the soldiers. The minister thought that since the prince and the Duke of Liao had an agreement, we had to make good use of it, and we couldn't just focus on the land. My Wang Dian does not worry about the officials, and does not pay customs duties, so the profit of my Wang Dian is much higher than that of other merchants. The government also allowed my Wangdian to collect and donate widely, so it is better to expand the donation policy to industry and commerce. All merchants who surrender to our palace will receive one percent of the value of their goods, and allow them to use the flag of the palace for a long time, and issue a certificate of trafficking free of charge, so that there is no obstacle to the land in Sichuan. Our royal palace has also set up customs cards in various prefectures, prefectures and counties, and followed the example of Feixian Pass to collect fees. The ministers are expected to go on like this for a long time, and within three years, those merchants in Shu who do not vote for my palace will be crushed and replaced by other merchants. The village protection team is set up to protect my Wang Zhuang, and those who are not my Wang Zhuang should report to the government when they encounter bandits and people. Since the Duke of Liao accepted my silver, and this silver was taken from the place as a contribution, in fact, he paid taxes to the court for the palace on behalf of the people. The minister thought that it was precisely because of the arrogance of the gentry and the greed of the government that the palace was forced to make this decision. This matter is related to the whole province, hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, or even millions of taels of silver, the stakes are very important, and it must not be hidden for long, Your Majesty should know as soon as possible, and in the future, those gentry will make trouble with the courtiers, and we will have a saying......"

Even though the current mainstream economic model of Shu is still a self-sufficient economy, the commodity economy is still relatively large-scale, and many agricultural products of the landlords and gentry have to be sold in the market. For example, Chen Yan's family in Jingyan County has a large number of cotton fields, and it is impossible for him to eat cotton as a family, and he will definitely sell it to Renshou spinning and weaving. When the autumn grain is on the market, a lot of grain will also be sold to the state capital towns. Sun Hong's method was to temporarily not touch the core of the gentry's land ownership when his own strength was insufficient, so as not to clash head-on between the palace and the gentry, but to start from the peripheral business environment to increase the production costs of the gentry and deprive them of part of their profits. Essentially, it is to set unfair conditions of competition in the market, which will not only defeat competitors, but also destroy the self-sufficient small-scale peasant economy. My wife had raised the issue of poor scissors in agriculture before, but she was resolutely opposed by Zhu Pingjin at that time. Now that Zhu Pingjin thinks about it seriously, he feels that what his wife said still makes some sense. It's just that the wool of industrial shearing agriculture is a bit premature, and it should be the wool of commercial shearing agriculture. If Sun Hong's ideas are fulfilled one by one, it is estimated that the gentry in Shu will soon understand that in this troubled world, they only have two roads to take: one is the golden road of the enlightened gentry, and the other is the sheep intestine path of the local tyrants and inferior gentry. Sun Hong's IQ and knowledge do exceed his academic qualifications, and after half a year's experience, he has also matured, which made Zhu Pingjin dispel his worries and finally made up his mind to use him.

"Strategizing, winning thousands of miles away, Mr. is worthy of the son of this son (Zhang Liang)! The vassal country set up cards to collect taxes, and there were many people in the world, such as King Fu, King Lu, King Rui, King Gui, King Qin, King Chu, King Lu, all the kings, even if the court and Liu Zhibo knew, they only called twice, and they couldn't go online. It's a great idea! Just setting up cards to collect taxes and issuing road slips are all lucrative errands, and we must choose the people in charge well, so as not to fall into the old path of corruption and desecration of court officials. ”

"If the prince is trustworthy, the minister ......," Sun Hong arched his hand and spoke.

"Mr. is still of great use, it is better to assign this kind of money and food to Miss Luo's management." Zhu Pingjin waved his hand to interrupt Sun Hong, "You can let Cao Santai do this." He is a eunuch, even if he is found to be greedy in the future, he will still belong to my palace. It's just that this ......" Zhu Pingjin pondered for a moment, "Since we want to report to the emperor, it is related to Liao Fu's interests, we can't sell him behind our backs, we have to communicate with him to understand." The meaning of this son of the world, although this silver is taken from the field, but after all, it is from my heavenly home, and half of it must be entered into the treasury, and half into the emperor's internal funds. Otherwise, the crows of the court will inevitably croak, saying that this prince is colluding with Liao Daheng. What if Liao Tycoon took too much silver and didn't look for those gentry to collect taxes? ”

Zhu Pingjin took a deep breath of air and clarified his thoughts again in his brain:

All I want is the gentry to support the war. Once you become bigger and stronger through the war, you can destroy those disobedient gentry at any time. Why, then, let the gentry attack them now? Sooner or later, the emperor will become suspicious. The gentry provide food, money, and people, this is Zhu Pingjin's goal at this stage. Zhu Pingjin and Sun Hong still have some differences in the choice of the path to achieve this goal, but their goals are the same, and there is no fundamental conflict between them.

……

Late at night, Zhu Pingjin sent Sun Hong to the camp. Walking to the curtain at the door, Zhu Pingjin suddenly said:

"Speaking of the money bank, Mr. Sun just said something good. The son of this world does not refuse, and the more the merrier. If you want to invest in the bank, you can do it as a person, as long as he pays the silver and the share capital! When Ben Shizi and Miss Luo return to the provincial capital, this money bank can be publicly listed. By the way, Mr. Sun, the provident fund of the officers and non-commissioned officers of the Zhuang Guardian Team will also be invested in Qian Zhuang to make profits. I don't know if Mr. Sun intends to ......"

"Of course, the minister also wants to do his best! However, He Chen has just paid off the arrears of rent, and the family is very shy......"

"As long as Mr. Sun is interested in buying shares!" Zhu Pingjin interrupted Sun Hong's complaint, "Mr. currently has no children and no daughters, the two ladies work in the palace, and their food and clothing are all in the public school, and there is no place for ordinary expenses. In this way, the son of this world first advanced a year's Yulu for Mr. as share capital, and then Mr. paid back ten taels of silver from Yulu every month. Just pay it off, no interest! ”

"This ...... How does this work? ”

"It's settled." Zhu Pingjin did not allow Sun Hong to refuse, "There is just an old saying, 'The king does not lose his country, and the minister does not lose his body'......"

Sun Hong immediately knelt down: "Tonight, the monarch and the minister are right, and the minister will never leak a word!" ”

Zhu Pingjin was very embarrassed: "Mr. is serious. This prince just wants to inform Mr. that the share capital advanced for Mr. is from the private money of this son, and Miss Luo must not be allowed to know about it......"

Note 1: Jianwu, the first era name of Emperor Guangwu.