The dialogue between Zheng Xuan and Liu Lan completely led to the former's words, and he said in a word: "As you said, the small clan with little kindness, but I am rare, the reason why the poor peasants I have seen over the years have become middle peasants and rich peasants, there are many tenant farmers who rent land for farming, and their own land is barren or lacking, so they will rent the land of the small clan family when they have spare time, so that not only the clan family can have a surplus from the wasteland, but even the life of the tenant farmers can be solved by renting land and cultivating because of their hard work. And there are even fewer people who gradually become rich peasants and middle peasants, and it is extremely rare for those who rent to become poorer because of renting other people's land, as you said. ”

"But I've met tenant farmers who have been forced to go down and rob the road." Liu Lan tried his best to defend because he remembered Hou He when he came to Xiaopei.

"This kind of thing is also extremely rare, but such a thing can be avoided, but the current imperial court ......" said this, but shook his head a little sadly, and sighed: "Don't say it, don't say it!" ”

Liu Lan said with some doubts: "Imperial court, can the imperial court avoid this matter?" ”

Zheng Xuan smiled slightly, and after taking a shallow sip of tea, he said to him: "All the people want to live the life of a rich man or a rich peasant, and they all want to improve their lives as much as possible, but if they are not thrifty enough, industrious enough, and smart enough to make them unable to become rich peasants, then the old man will never believe it, but since they are industrious and thrifty enough, why are they still so poor?" This last sentence was asked to Liu Lan.

Liu Lan thought for a while and said tentatively: "If there is a war today, which leads to frequent small nights, under such public order, the people can live in peace, plus heavy taxes and disasters from time to time. If you don't have enough land, you can't even fill your stomach, so how can you have savings? ”

"Hahahaha-"

Zheng Xuan laughed loudly and said, "I didn't expect you to have some vision to see the root cause of these troubles for the people. With a slight stroke of his beard in the eyes of a child, he looked at him appreciatively, and said, "If the people's grain harvest is poor because of natural and man-made disasters, then the imperial court only needs to reduce or exempt the taxes of the affected areas." And timely relief, then do you say that those tenant farmers who can't pay off their land rent will still go to be bandits? Do you think there will be so many people who were instigated by the Yellow Turban Disaster back then? ”

"Kid understood."

Liu Lan was overjoyed, and hurriedly said: "Mr. can see clearly, see accurately, and point to the key point, the kid admires it tightly." After a pause, he said: "As Mr. said, if the court is sage, these things will be avoided, and if the court is corrupt." Isn't it ......?"

Although Liu Lan had a mouthful of the imperial court, Zheng Xuan didn't know that his spearhead was directed at the Son of Heaven, and said: "The Son of Heaven, the eldest son of Heaven." It is to uphold the will of Heaven to govern the world, if it is perverse and contrary to the will of Heaven, then God will send another great sage to replace him, just like ......" said here but looked at Liu Lan. I don't know whether to say it or not, and I struggle for a moment. In the end, he said: "Just like the ancestor." ”

"What?" When Liu Lan heard Zheng Xuan say this, he felt ridiculous in his heart, the tyranny and inhumanity of the Son of Heaven are all products of the monarchy, how can it be like this in the eyes of Confucianism...... With a sigh, the monarch is divinely granted, the monarch is divinely granted. No wonder all dynasties have used Confucianism...... But then I thought about it, the biggest gap between Confucianism and democracy is that the Ming Lord is a group of people who hit the dictator, and everyone disagrees, what should I do. Vote by show of hands. And Confucianism is a group of people who fight alone, and they don't agree with each other? What to do? Of course, I listened to 'Lao Tzu'.

didn't notice that the atmosphere in the room was a little abnormal at this time, and Liu Lan, who was being complacent, realized that he was really talented, and he couldn't help but laugh out loud when he could even think of such a profound question so simply.

Zheng Xuan looked at him, didn't suddenly see him laughing, and said, "What are you laughing at?" ”

"No, no."

Liu Lan said with some embarrassment: "Where are we talking?" ”

Zheng Xuan thought for a while and said, "Speaking of the imperial court." Then he said: "After all, the world is so big, there are so many fields to cultivate, and the arable land in the hands of the clan can be rented out after all, and what really bothers the people of Qianshou is that there is less land and more people, and the poor peasants are mostly fetters and places, once they pay taxes, they can't maintain their own lives." ”

"yes."

Liu Lan nodded thoughtfully, the Han Dynasty was taxed according to capitation, so it is not uncommon to say that the poorer the more born, the poorer the poorer, and with the progress of the times, like the cultivation of children in later generations is no longer based on quantity but on quality, then the birth population will naturally decrease, and the consequences of the subsequent reduction will naturally lead to entering an aging society.

Zheng Xuan nodded and said: "Therefore, if you really want to solve the problem of poor peasants, the most important thing is to encourage them to open up their homes, and also find ways to enable them to have other incomes; Let them have more money, so that as long as they become rich, then the poor peasants will naturally disappear, so that the people of the world can live a well-off life, how can the country not be strong? Speaking of this, he sighed and said: "The people also work hard, and they can be well-off." ”

"What? A well-off life? Isn't this Grandpa Deng's life's work? Could it be that the term "well-off" already existed in the Han Dynasty? Although he was curious, he didn't dare to ask, and suddenly seemed to think of something, and hurriedly asked, "Sir, doesn't it say that Confucianism does not speak of profit?" Why do you say that the people should have other income than farming? ”

"A gentleman doesn't say anything?"

Zheng Xuan didn't expect Liu Lan to say this, shook his head and smiled: "It seems that you have misunderstood the way of the sage, at the beginning Mencius said that the gentleman does not speak of profit, but because everyone was mercenary at that time, and he did not know that there was the word "benevolence and righteousness" in the world, so he said that the gentleman did not speak of profit to admonish the world, which can be described as the good intentions of the sage. ”

said here but said with a smile: "So the gentleman does not speak of profit, but does not seek personal interests for himself, if he is only a mercenary person, but he is not my Confucian disciple, if he is really for the benefit of the people of the world, it is to do business and make the people rich, but it is also the way of a sage." ”

"What? Doing business to enrich the people is also the way of the saints? ”

Liu Lan exclaimed, this really made him even shatter his three views, he never expected that such words would come from the mouth of a great Confucian like Zheng Xuan, he couldn't believe his ears, because Zheng Xuan was so far away from those rotten Confucians in his impression that he couldn't believe that the person in front of him was not a Confucian but a more efficient Legalist.

Zheng Xuan didn't know why he made such a fuss, and said with a smile: "Do you know why Sage Kong loved the pipe the most after the Duke of Zhou, because the pipe made the country rich and the people lived well, so it can make the people rich, but it is also what my Confucianism pursues. ”

"Dismount to rule the country, get on the horse and kill the enemy?"

Liu Lan smiled slightly, he didn't believe that these powerless shows could do this, and said with a somewhat noncommittal smile: "Sir, I don't know what the six arts of Confucianism are?" He knows that virtue governs the world, which is nothing more than benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom, loyalty and filial piety, but the six arts do not know.

"The six arts of Confucianism are etiquette, music, archery, royalty, calligraphy, and mathematics."

Liu Lan was slightly stunned, and then smiled lewdly: "Sir, what does this royal mean?" "Didn't the ancients say how many maids there were in one night, or how many maids there were in one night, could it be that the art of room was also a compulsory course in Confucianism? Then I have to ask for advice, what willow roots, old man cart...... Instead, we can discuss with each other, and think that my heart has already blossomed here.

A great Confucian like Zheng Xuan naturally wouldn't have thought that Liu Lan had such a dirty idea in his heart, and said: "The royal is for the imperial car, but at this time, it is talking about riding a horse." ”

"Archery and horseback riding are in third and fourth? Is this a Confucian change? Or do you know little about Confucianism? What is this? ”

Liu Lan has one head and two big, he can't believe that everything he hears is true, doesn't he say that Confucian talents are powerless? When did you pay attention to horseback archery?

In fact, this is also Liu Lan's misunderstanding of Confucianism all along, after all, Confucianism has deviated, but it is a later generation, if Confucianism is misguided, it is mostly after the Song Dynasty. It's no wonder that people like Xu Shu and Zhen Yan are also so strong in their Confucian methods, but it turns out that this is the reason, it seems that Confucianism in this era is not rotten to the bone.

At this moment, Liu Lan completely changed his view of Confucianism, although he did not appreciate their old-fashioned and nostalgic traditions, and thought that they were hindering social progress, but many of the political concepts in them were not useless, especially his lifelong pursuit of seeking well-being for the people, which was more worthy of admiration and appreciation.

"Sir, the kid is really fortunate to have the honor to meet Rong Yan today, especially after listening to your words, the kid is suddenly opened, although the kid's ability is limited, only Pei County Liaodong County, but the kid has some ideas at this time, after I go back, I will encourage industry and commerce, support farming, and reclaim Qianmo."

Zheng Xuan nodded while persuading: "These things must be thought about before acting, if you are not careful, you will definitely provoke public resentment at that time, so that good intentions will become malice." He shook his head.

"That's what the gentleman said."

Liu Lan bowed and said, "The kid will definitely be cautious, please rest assured, Mr., if you are not 100% sure, you will not mess around at will." (To be continued.) )