The reason why Yang Wu was reluctant to join forces with Li Cunmiao to attack Zhu Wen had already been told to the generals present, so everyone was not surprised when they heard that Yang Wu had rejected Li Cunmiao's envoy.

Judging from the battle situation in the past year, it is indeed impossible for Zhu Wen to eliminate Li Cunmiao, but the young and vigorous Li Cunmiao is launching an aggressive attack on Zhu Wen.

Therefore, as Yang Wu said, if there is no major change in the current situation in the north, it will be the best situation for Wu: it is difficult for Li Cunqiao to defeat Zhu Wen, and at the same time, Zhu Wen cannot eliminate Li Cunqing, so the two sides can only confront each other like this.

If this situation can continue, and Wu can successfully unify the south in the next few years, then they will be able to recuperate in peace, wait and see how the situation in the north changes, and then wait for the best time for the northern expedition to come.

Of course, there is still a variable in this, that is, Zhu Wen is old, and no one knows when he will die.

Also last year, Liu Zhijun, the envoy of Kuang Guojie, who had repeatedly made military exploits and had a growing reputation, was frightened and uneasy after being suspicious of Zhu Wen.

It happened that the Youguo Army, who happened to be friendly with him, made Wang Chongshi acquittal, which made Liu Zhijun even more frightened, and finally launched a rebellion in Tongzhou, and asked Li Maozhen, the king of Qi, for help.

Zhu Wen reacted immediately after learning the news, ordering Yang Shihou and Liu Cheng to go to the crusade, Liu Zhijun knew that it was difficult to resist, so he had to give up Tongzhou and completely join Li Maozhen.

Although this incident did not lose any territory in the end, it fully exposed the fluctuation of people's hearts within it, and even meritorious veterans like Liu Zhijun began to be suspicious, which shows that there have been many cracks in Zhu Wen's rule.

But Zhu Wen is still the hero who has been in the world for decades anyway, as long as he doesn't die, the Liang Kingdom will not collapse; However, the question is, can Juwen never die? This is obviously impossible.

By the time Zhu Wen died, none of his many sons had enough talent to continue to lead the Liang State to subdue many enemies.

It can be said that from that time on, the decline of the Liang State could be regarded as the official beginning.

Time flies, more than three months have passed in a blink of an eye, and now it is May of the third year of Wuyi.

In Jinling City, a torrential rain has just stopped, bringing a touch of coolness to the hot weather.

In the middle hall, looking at the young man in front of him with a heroic face but elegant manners, Yang Wu felt very satisfied.

The person in front of him is Jiang Yanhui, the candidate who ranked second in the imperial examination not long ago, and the first place is Xu Wen's appearance Xu Zhihe.

According to the regulations of the Wu State Imperial Examination, the ranking of the general examination is generally determined by the chief examiner, and the candidates in the general examination will not be eliminated in the next palace examination.

However, what determines the final ranking of candidates, and the most important thing for candidates, is the palace examination that will be held today.

Yang Wu naturally presided over such an important ceremony for selecting talents, and the questions of this palace examination were also made by Yang Wu.

In the spacious hall, Jiang Yanhui didn't realize that Yang Wu was secretly observing him, he looked carefully at the topic in front of him, frowning and thinking.

The questions of this palace examination are about how to make money, and to put it bluntly, it is how to quickly increase the income of the imperial court.

After Yang Wu announced last year that he would increase the treatment of soldiers of the forbidden army, it certainly greatly boosted the morale of the soldiers, but it also brought a great burden to the finances.

Last year, Luo Zhixiang, the secretary of the household department, raised to Yang Wu the financial difficulties he would encounter, and this year's situation undoubtedly confirms this.

Although this year's summer harvest has not yet begun, judging from the situation in previous years, there will inevitably be a deficit in Wu's finances this year, so at the beginning of this year, Yang Wu had to order the issuance of treasury bonds.

For the current state of Wu, it is in a state of prosperity in all aspects from the inside to the outside.

Externally, Wu's territory was expanding, and many forces were sending envoys to submit to Wu and recognize Wu's legitimacy.

Within the state of Wu, as the society became stable and orderly again, the economy in various places was rapidly recovering and developing, coupled with the promotion of Champa rice, the people of Wu basically had a surplus after the harvest every year, except for consumption.

In this case, the people are naturally very supportive of the Wu court, and they are also very optimistic about the prospects of Wu.

So when Yang Wu ordered the issuance of treasury bonds again, a large number of people soon enthusiastically bought them.

However, in this era when the productive forces are still underdeveloped, it is obviously not advisable for a country's finances to rely on national debt for a long time.

So there is now this exam question from Yang Wu.

This era is not the Ming Dynasty in later generations, whether it is those officials in the court or ordinary scholars, they are not shy about talking about money.

Not only that, today's Wu State attaches more importance to practicality, and not only does not shy away from saying about the very practical issue of increasing taxes, but attaches great importance to it, and is often used as a test question for the imperial examination.

This has led many readers to think about these practical questions, rather than just reading dead books like previous candidates.

At this time, Jiang Yanhui looked at the exam questions in front of him and couldn't help but think quietly.

He is not one of those candidates who has no background, although his father died of illness many years ago, but after all, his father was also a commander under Yang Xingmi, and naturally had some friends in the army.

With the help of these people, Jiang Yanhui can understand the current Wu State better than other ordinary candidates.

Therefore, before participating in the palace examination, he realized the financial difficulties of the imperial court from the issuance of treasury bonds, and thought about some countermeasures.

And now what he has to do is to write down what he usually thinks.

And not far from him, Xu Zhihe, as Xu Wen's adopted son, although he couldn't directly get this year's palace exam questions, he also had some expectations in advance.

In fact, not only Jiang Yanhui and Xu Zhihe, but also many other candidates also expected it before the exam.

Of course, this year's questions are already very broad and there are no standard answers, so even if they guess some questions in advance, it will still be difficult to answer them well.

"Wang, I'm afraid that many people will expect this exam question this year, and I'm afraid that many of the answer sheets handed in will be the same!"

At the top of the list, Chen Yanqian, the chief examiner of this year's imperial examination, who had just been promoted to a scholar of Dongge University not long ago and presided over government affairs in place of Gao Miao, whispered to Yang Wu.

If the answer is the same, it means that they don't have their own unique thinking, and they are all content that everyone else has, what's the use? What Lone needs is a talent who can think independently! Yang Wu said disapprovingly.

On the issue of how to expand his income, he naturally had some ideas in his heart, and coupled with the discussion with Luo Zhixiang, he has now reached some consensus.

This includes Luo Zhixiang's suggestion to him to ban Buddhism.

Of course, although there are many benefits of banning Buddha, but there will be no fewer people who oppose it, at least his mother Shi Shi is very respectful of Buddhism, if she knows that she has the idea of banning Buddha, she will definitely jump out and strongly oppose it.

Not only Mrs. Shi, but also among the hundreds of officials in the DPRK and China, there may be many people who will oppose the ban on Buddhism.

Therefore, Yang Wu will not act easily before he is ready.

"How many of the candidates in this year's class can finally make useful suggestions?" Yang Wu then asked.

This time, Chen Yanqian was appointed as the chief examiner, naturally in order to increase his qualifications and prestige, so Chen Yanqian's main energy during this period of time was basically focused on this imperial examination.

Therefore, Chen Yanqian is naturally the one who knows the most about these candidates.

"It's hard for others to say, but Xu Zhihe and Jiang Yanhui should have good ideas!" Chen Yanqian said with great certainty.

"Really? How can you be so confident? Yang Wu asked with a smile.

"The minister has read the answer sheets they will try, and he has specially checked some of their previous answer sheets, so he will be optimistic about them."

……

The two of them asked and answered in a whisper, and an hour and a half passed in a blink of an eye, and this palace examination was about to end, and many candidates had already finished answering the exam questions and began to check quietly.

Yang Wu saw that Jiang Yanhui had put down the pen in his hand and was carefully checking his answer sheet, so he immediately stood up and walked over to him.

"There is a way to make money", Yang Wu picked up the draft that Jiang Yanhui put aside, and saw the title of the policy theory written on the top in a neat line.

Yang Wu didn't pay much attention to the font that was not very good, but focused on the content of his strategy.

After reading a few words just now, Yang Wu couldn't help laughing: "I didn't expect this kid to be young, but his tone is not small." I just don't know if he has real skills, or if he can only brag."

It turned out that at the beginning of Jiang Yanhui's policy, he mentioned many ways to increase tax revenue, such as rectifying corrupt officials and corrupt officials, persuading farmers to teach agriculture, opening up sources and reducing expenditure, etc., which ordinary people can think of.

When he got here, there was no bright spot in his strategy, but then his words changed, and then he belittled these methods, saying that these clichés were easier said than done, and the results were still very slow, and they were not enough to quickly solve the problems facing the state of Wu today.

Seeing that his tone was so loud, Yang Wu naturally became interested in his heart, and couldn't help but continue to watch.

Next, Jiang Yanhui proposed his own method, that is, to vigorously develop maritime trade.

In Jiang Yanhui's view, during the prosperity of the Han and Tang dynasties, the main reason why the world was rich was the control of the Western Regions, which enabled the Central Plains to develop trade through the Western Silk Road, so that the country was rich and the people lived in peace.

Although Wu does not control the Western Regions today, Wu controls many important seaports.

Trade by sea ship is cheaper and more convenient than through the Silk Road.

In the Tang Dynasty, there were many merchants coming to important ports such as Yangzhou, which brought great convenience to the development of these areas and greatly promoted the prosperity of these areas.

Quanzhou, which had just been conquered by the Wu State, was a very important seaport, and in this era, merchants from all over the world came to trade, and if it was possible to set up a city and ship department there, and then vigorously develop maritime trade, the tariffs extracted from it alone would be enough to make the country rich.

Seeing this, Yang Wu smiled with satisfaction.

The plan to open a city division in Quanzhou has not yet been officially implemented, and not many people know about it now, only a few important ministers know about it.

If this Jiang Yanhui can see this by himself, then this person's vision is enough to impress Yang Wu.

However, what surprised Yang Wu even more was that Jiang Yanhui not only proposed to vigorously develop maritime trade, but also proposed that the state should come forward to form a merchant fleet to conduct trade.

This is like the state's monopoly system of salt, tea, and so on, and the state monopolizes the profits brought by maritime trade, which will inevitably quickly solve the problem of insufficient state revenue.

In addition, the development of maritime trade through private ownership is not only slower, but also because maritime trade is risky and prone to shipwreck, the average family cannot afford such a big risk, so it can only be led by the state.

After seeing this, Yang Wu had to stop and think carefully.

To be honest, Yang Wu has never been very interested in the state monopoly or monopoly.

It's better to have a salt monopoly, after all, salt is too important, and it is a support that is closely related to every people, and it is difficult to reassure people if it is not directly controlled by the state; In addition, the huge income brought by the salt monopoly is also a major reason for Yang Wu's tolerance of it.

However, for tea monopolies, which are relatively less important, but have a great impact on people's lives, if it were not for the current national financial constraints, Yang Wu is afraid that these monopoly projects would have been released long ago.

As a later generation, Yang Wu instinctively resented this kind of state-controlled and dominated economic activity.

In later generations, the state-owned enterprises have been criticized for their inefficiency and corruption, leaving a very bad impression on Yang Wu.

Moreover, in this era, in the absence of advanced management technology and effective competition in later generations, this state-led economy is only less efficient and more prone to corruption.

When the salt industry was first rectified, Yang Wu was shocked by all kinds of corruption and inefficiency, although the situation improved after a vigorous rectification, Yang Wu knew that it would not be long before all this would be restored to the original state.

Therefore, in Yang Wu's view, if it is not necessary, it is better to have less national monopolies.

However, after looking at the reasons mentioned by Jiang Yanhui, especially seeing the problem of the difficulty of private individuals resisting the risks of maritime transportation and the slow pace of development, Yang Wu thought deeply.

Looking at Jiang Yanhui, who was still concentrating on checking his official answer sheet and was not affected in the slightest, Yang Wu thought in his heart: "No matter what, just by virtue of this proposition that the state should establish a merchant fleet, it can be shown that this person is a good talent, and it is feasible for me to marry my fifth sister to him!" ”