What Chen Qinggeng saw was not mysterious, but it was the knowledge accumulated by Old Master Chen for decades.

When Old Master Chen saw this grandson, who had always been honest, he was so panicked that he was incoherent, and he was a little disappointed.

The old man picked up the books on the ground, cleaned them carefully, and said, "Your cousins and brothers, when they left home, were not as unbearable as you. ”

To be honest, Chen Qinggeng, as a young man, is always a little competitive, and he quickly stabilized his mood when he heard the words.

Old Master Chen sat in the big chair, squinted at his grandson, and finally nodded.

Chen Qinggeng tidied up his clothes, excused himself for his gaffe, and then said in surprise: "Several brothers, as well as cousins, were also sent away by grandpa?" No wonder they were a little strange before leaving, it turned out that they had read this booklet. ”

Old Master Chen snorted twice, "Eggs can't be put in one basket. Grandpa, I sent you to various places in order to protect the Chen family. ”

"But Bianjing is obviously a scene of singing and dancing, why does grandpa think that Da Zhou has a huge hidden danger? Inevitably, a little biased? Chen Qinggeng didn't agree with the final conclusion of the booklet, and he didn't dare to argue loudly, so he had to hum and chirp.

Old Master Chen was annoyed by this grandson's hypocrisy, and said loudly:

"What do you know?! This booklet records the income and expenditure of wealthy merchants in various places over the past few decades. The numbers in it all come from the accounts, housekeepers and staff members who have been friends with the old man, which is much more credible than the figures of the Great Zhou Dynasty. ”

"Hedong Haoqiang, Jingdong big households, Jiangnan big families, Jinghu squires, Sichuan and Shu wealthy businessmen, all the wealthy families, pay taxes up to 30% of the good. Throughout the dynasties, whenever troubled times fall, the collapse of the treasury is always an important sign. ”

"The industry and commerce of my Great Zhou are far better than those of previous dynasties, and today's treasury benefits from this and can still be supported. However, the money secretly accumulated by the big clans in various places is also the most in the past dynasties, and it is outside the court law, and the hidden danger is huge. ”

"The tax rate on the industrial and mining workshops of the Great Zhou ranges from one out of ten to one out of thirty, and now six to seven percent of the income of the state treasury comes from industrial and commercial taxes and municipal tax collections, counting tax evasion by large households. Qing Geng, tell me, how much do the big households in Dazhou make every year? "Old Master Chen should give a good mention of Chen Qinggeng, lest this grandson not be able to recognize the situation when he arrives in Mingyuezhuang, and will be criticized or plotted.

Chen Qinggeng took it to the bookshelf, and the arithmetic chips that had been polished by Old Master Chen sat on the mat, picked up the old book, and calculated intently.

The buzzing sound came, and Old Master Chen watched his grandson meticulously calculate there, speechless and funny, and his beard was about to rise, "What a sin, this grandson is so stupid, he really wants to send him to Mengxue to stay." If Mingyuezhuang can really become a prince, it will also be a place to go......"

Chen Qinggeng, a stupid man, finally had a result, only to hear the young man hissed twice, "The average tax paid by those wealthy families is less than thirty percent, so it is calculated at two percent and seven, and what they earn every year is equivalent to fifty to one hundred times the annual income of the imperial court." ”

"In the past five years, the average annual income of the court has been 60 million, so the wealth that these big clans have mastered every year ......" tick-tock, it was the sound of cold sweat falling on the ground, and Chen Qinggeng's throat seemed to be blocked by something.

The charcoal stove installed in the room is different, and Old Master Chen basks in the warm sunlight that penetrates the window paper, and pretends to sleep for a while. Hearing his grandson's voice, the old man woke up, "In all dynasties, count my Great Zhou culture, and count my Great Zhou with the most moths!" ”

"The strong Han is divided into the Western Han and the Eastern Han. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, on the eve of the Yellow Turban Army rebellion, the wealth of the powerful nobles in various places was twice as much as the treasury, and then the world was in chaos. ”

The Jin Dynasty dominated the world, but the civil strife continued, and finally caused chaos among the Hu people, and the clothes crossed to the south to become the Southern Jin Dynasty. However, in the last years of the Southern Jin Dynasty, the wealth controlled by the Shangpin Shi clan was several times that of the court, so the Western Jin Dynasty collapsed. ”

"The force of the Tang Dynasty is the highest in thousands of years. However, on the eve of the rebellion, the famous families and jiedu envoys in various places controlled ten times the wealth of the national treasury. The previous dynasty flourished and declined, and after decades of turbulent times, there was the rise of my Great Zhou Taizu. Speaking of this, the old man's hands were tightly grasping the armrests of the chair, and his eyes were full of complexity.

There was a moment of silence in the room......

Chen Qinggeng thought of something, "Can't we reform, such as changing the law or something?" ”

"In the pre-Qin period, the Shang monarch changed the law, and then there was the unification of the Great Qin; Han Wu ascended the throne, Dong Zhongshu offered advice, and only then did he have the sole respect for Confucianism; I am the ancestor of the dynasty, give preferential treatment to scholars, and achieve two hundred years of Wenhua. Now I only need to ...... "Chen Qinggeng, the young man entered the state, and was about to talk endlessly, but found that his grandfather was staring at him, with an expression of "loading forks, then loading forks, the old man looks at how you put forks", so he said twice, and he didn't dare to speak.

Old Master Chen had a headache for Chen Qinggeng.

After all, it was his own grandson, so Old Master Chen had no choice but to cheer up and teach this "last lesson" well. The old man said slowly: "During the Western Han Dynasty, many great sages wanted to change the law to eliminate hidden dangers, and they died miserably. In the early years of the Han Dynasty, the great sage who suggested cutting the feudal domain actually ended up with the destruction of the nine clans. ”

"There are also people in the Southern Jin Dynasty who want to attack the family, and without exception, they were all killed by those scholars. In the former Tang Dynasty, there were more than a dozen prime ministers before the Hu soldiers rebelled, and they wanted to take back the financial and military power in the hands of the Jiedu envoys, and they were either dismissed from office or killed. ”

"It's this dynasty, do you really think that no Confucianism sees anything? Mr. Wang Anshi was a scholar and wanted to reduce the burden of the small people and strengthen the national treasury at the same time. However, it was only because of the green seedling law and other strategies proposed by his old man that the interests of the gentry and large families were touched, and finally ended miserably, and the burden of the small people became heavier. ”

At the end, Old Master Chen also added, "If you want to reform, or even change the law, how easy is it to talk about it?" Since the two great sages of Shang Ying and Chao Cuo, there have been no examples of successful changes when the dynasty was running, at most it was a slight change when the dynasty was customized. ”

When it comes to the historical cyclical law of dynastic change and the increasing stubbornness of vested interests, Chen Qinggeng is of course confused. But this young man understood one thing, that is, the meaning of Da Zhou's accumulation is a little difficult to return.

Chen Qinggeng still had questions, confirmed that there was no one left and right, and said in a low voice: "Then, according to grandpa, Da Zhou really can't get over this hurdle?" ”

Old Master Chen sighed, "The wealth controlled by the gentry is dozens of times, or even a hundred times that of the national treasury, and there is a tendency to intensify, and the hidden dangers are too great, this is one of them." People are growing, the land is insufficient, and the number of displaced people is increasing, which is the most fatal place. ”

"Lack of greed. The great clans had already earned their wealth from the workshops, the mines, and the fleet, and they were still eyeing the land. Of course, those wealthy families understood that it was a great danger not to give the small people a way to live, but no one could, powerless, or even had no intention of stopping the annexation of land. ”

"In the sweet and cool pass, there are more and more horses; In the land east of the river, there are many thieves; Jingdong East Road, green forests are rampant. This is only north of the Yellow River, grandpa learned. How many cats are left, even grandpa is well-informed and doesn't know. ”

"Jinghu South Road and Jiangnan West Road are also full of water thieves. There is also Fang Lana, who would have thought that the essence of the Great Zhou Dynasty would actually have a grass-headed thief who is the king! On the Lingnan side, although Dali did not let go of the massacre, it was also miserable at this time. Don't look at the court's newspaper, it's not credible, your grandfather and I have a few old stories on Lingnan West Road, and one of them is gone. ”

"There has been a great change in the Northland. It is said that there are few Jurchens, and there is still a fight with the Liao State, even if the Liao State is defeated, it has to ask for peace with the Great Zhou, and then the clouds will be restored. ”

"But when the Liao State was rising, there were few people, and Anzhi Jurchen would not be like the Liao State that rose at the beginning of the year, or even more ruthless than the Liao State? The princes of the court must also understand, but they quarreled back and forth, and in the end they could only think that there were few Jurchens. Hugh is talking nonsense, how can grandpa compare with those top people, maybe it is a bystander, or grandpa doesn't understand it at all? ”

Hearing what his grandfather said, Chen Qinggeng finally understood that the situation in Da Zhou was not good, he swooped for a while, and asked in a low voice: "Grandpa, do you mean that Fang La is like that Chen Sheng and Wu Guang?" ”

"If the Great Zhou Dynasty copes effectively, and there is a time of Zhongxing, it will be like the Western Han Dynasty and the Eastern Han Dynasty. If one is not good, the displaced people will catch fire, and the situation in the north will change greatly, and the Great Zhou will be in danger? ”

Old Master Chen's eyes widened slightly, the wrinkles on his brows folded, and he thought to himself that this grandson had finally opened his mind, "It's kind of meaningful." However, it is not an exaggeration to say that this dynasty is the culmination of thousands of years of culture, and there is far more than the industrial, mining and maritime trade of other dynasties, and it is not known that it can open a new situation. ”

"No matter what, at least the north of the Great Zhou will no longer be calm in the next ten or even decades. I heard that the public middle school of Yuezhuang is very effective in controlling the workshops it belongs to, and the owner of Li Xiang Zhuang attaches great importance to education, and I can't understand many measures grandpa......"

"Qing Geng remember. When you arrive at Mingyuezhuang, you should say less and do more, do your own work first, and mix less with other things, so that it can last. ”

"Grandpa is in Bianjing, hold up for you and your brothers for a few more years, come back to see grandpa more when you have time, don't get separated from your brothers. Mingyuezhuang encourages Zhuang people to build their own workshops, grandpa here, and prepares a meeting and Jiaozi for you...... "When the farewell time comes, Old Master Chen is no different from the old man of ordinary people, chattering, I can't wait to remind you of what you eat every day."

Chen Qinggeng tearfully took a few letters from his grandfather's hand and a meeting and a son, went out step by step, stepped into the carriage with his wife, went out of the north gate of Bianjing to find Xiong Chengwu in Mingyuezhuang, and walked to the courtyard where Li Xiang was.

……

Li Xiang realized that he was in love.

Mingyuezhuang's Mengxue has always been closed, and the teachers have always been self-produced and sold. In a sense, Li Xiang regarded Chen Qinggeng as a catfish.

What should I do if Chen Qinggeng is a spy? Just kidding, although Mengxue does not teach the Four Books and the Five Classics, there is also a "custom class", which teaches the customs and culture of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and there is nothing wrong with it. Is Mingyuezhuang wrong to teach children to respect their teachers and honor their parents? As for not teaching the Four Books and the Five Classics, isn't there no money, do you have opinions? Pay for it! Unless someone tears their faces, they will embarrass Mingyuezhuang, otherwise Mengxue's packaging is very passable.

Taking a step back, even if Chen Qinggeng is really a spy, isn't there still Uncle Zhao, whose reputation is gradually darkening and terrifying.

In Chen Qinggeng's surprised eyes, Li Xiang used a dipping pen to quickly write an order and asked Chen Qinggeng to sign it, and then stamped the owner's big seal to the middle of the date and two signatures in the lower right corner.

Chen Qinggeng took the order of the owner of the village sealed with ink in a daze, and returned to the backyard with full doubts, he deeply disdained the habit of Li Xiang's owner writing horizontally. Chen Qinggeng will be in the backyard with a few old children recruited by Mingyuezhuang and the caravan steward, undergo two weeks of legal study and quarantine, and then follow the returning Mingyuezhuang caravan to Mingyuezhuang for naturalization.