The two were silent for a long time, and Fang Yuan opened his mouth to ask, "Master Xi, with our friendship, I will never believe that you will plot to subvert the regime, I just want to know your true thoughts." ”

Xi Benzhen looked at him in a daze for a while, and then sighed and said, "Why does the regent think I don't want to overthrow and subvert you?!" ”

Fang Yuan smiled bitterly and said, "Because you concealed the information from Liaodong. If you really want to subvert our origins, you shouldn't hide the information from Liaodong, but you should come to pass false information to me. Therefore, although you participated in the conspiracy to the west, you did not want to subvert the regime. Later, the reason why the information was concealed was also because it was discovered that Hou Fangyu and Gao Hongtu had ill intentions, and their real intention was to betray Jiangnan. At the cabinet meeting, you no longer suggested the Western Expedition, not only to disassociate yourself with the Western Expedition, but also to prevent this Western Expedition, right? ”

Xi Benzhen looked at him incredulously, but he didn't expect that all his thoughts were seen through by Fang Yuan, and he said hesitantly, "Regent, you, me." ”

Fang Yuan sighed and said, "Master Xi, say it!" I just want to hear what you really think. ”

Xi Benzhen took a few deep breaths and said loudly, "Regent, I really don't approve of the Northern Expedition. Before the regent conquered Jiangxi, he spent one million silver, plus the reconstruction expenses allocated to Jiangxi afterwards, at least two or three million taels of silver. It even exempted Jiangxi from taxes for three years. Regent, aren't these silvers one or two, one or two taken out of the pockets of the people in Jiangnan? Why should we loot the manpower, material resources, and financial resources of Jiangnan to help the displaced people in Jiangxi?! ”

"If the Northern Expedition is revived again, the loss of troops will still be secondary, and the amount of silver, food, materials, and armaments consumed will be measured in heaven! Every military exploit of the regent was made up by the people of Jiangnan with their pants strained. Even if the Northern Expedition was successful, the north had already been devastated by the rogues for hundreds of miles, and if a province was captured, it would be necessary to rebuild a province, and to fill the bottomless pit in the north, how many people in the south of the Yangtze River would have to be consumed! ”

Fang Yuan saw that the more he talked, the more excited he became, and he just listened quietly, "Isn't the Western Expedition also costing Jiangnan silver, manpower, and material resources, why do you also support it?" ”

Xi Benzhen said slowly, "The Jianghan Plain in Huguang and the Chengdu Plain in Sichuan are all fertile fields for thousands of miles. ”

Fang Yuan groaned and said, "Isn't the Guanzhong Plain in the north and the Hebei Plain also fertile and fertile for thousands of miles? ”

Xi Benzhen said with a wry smile, "The north can only cultivate one season a year, while Jiangnan and Huguang can cultivate two seasons, and the grain harvest is not the same." What's more, even if the Northern Expedition won the imperial court in the capital, it still had to face the Manchu Qing Dynasty outside the Guan, and the war would continue for a long time without end. Why do we have to wade into the troubled waters of the north, can't we live behind closed doors in the south of the Yangtze River?! ”

Fang Yuan nodded and said, "Okay, Master Xi, if you still have any grievances, let's talk about it together!" I'm listening! ”

Xi Benzhen also let go, and continued to scold, "The regent lacks money to train his troops, and he lacks money for the Northern Expedition, so it is ridiculous to issue welfare lottery tickets to collect money. This is a blatant support for national gambling, how many people will lose their families and ruin their families! ”

Fang Yuan pondered for a while, looked at Xi Benzhen from a distance, and said slowly, "Master Xi, since the beginning of the first emperor of China, countless heroes and heroes have pursued the same track, the same book, the same line, and the unification of China. Living behind closed doors is just wishful thinking on the part of Jiangnan. In the past dynasties, the north and the south were divided, the north was strong, the south invaded, and the south was strong, the north expedition, and the war was endless. The Northern and Southern Dynasties, 400 years of war, how could there have been peaceful days in the south of the Yangtze River? The Song and Jin have been fighting for more than 100 years across the river, and there are still frequent wars, how can there ever be a peaceful day in the south of the Yangtze River? Only when the north and the south are unified and foreign enemies are expelled, can there be a truly peaceful and prosperous world! ”

"According to the head of the Xi family, if Emperor Taizu of this dynasty does not go on a northern expedition, where will there be peace in the south of the Yangtze River for three hundred years?! If Emperor Chengzu had not moved the capital to Beijing, and the prince guarded the country, the north would have already fallen, eroded by Manchu and Mongolia, and the alien Chen soldiers on the north bank of the Yangtze River, and the south of the Yangtze River would not be at peace day and night, where would there be peace for three hundred years? ! ”

"Now we are on a northern expedition for the sake of peace in the future of Jiangnan; Now, if we are greedy for pleasure and delay without war, we will surely leave a disaster for a hundred years. ”

Xi Benzhen listened to his revealing thoughts, and he was reasonable, Fang Yuan still had a long-term vision, and he was a mouse-eyed, only considering the comfort in front of Jiangnan. His nose was slightly sour, and he closed his eyes, and said, "But the regent can't openly encourage gambling!" ”

Fang Yuan said in a deep voice, "As the head of the Xi family said, I want silver for the Western Expedition and silver for the Northern Expedition. Where did all this silver come from? Of course, it has to be scavenged from the people, and taken out of the bags of squires and wealthy merchants. I can't wait to learn from Cao Cao to arrange for Captain Mo Jin to rob the tomb, not to mention open gambling and accumulate money?! ”

Fang Yuan's purpose of opening up gambling was still reserved for Xi Benzhen. If it is just for the sake of money, he can buy a large number of modern products on Taobao, and then dump them at high prices to the rich people in Jiangnan. Fang Yuan had also had this kind of plan before, but after careful consideration, he denied it.

First, because the Ming Dynasty was originally a poor silver country, most of the silver circulating in the territory came from overseas. If a large amount of silver in the Ming Dynasty is consumed in Taobao, it will cause a serious shortage of gold and silver in the territory, trigger more serious deflation, and suppress the development of the Ming economy.

Second, the consumption of luxury goods, whether it is a Ming official, a squire, or a wealthy businessman, has a price and a degree in their hearts, and if they exceed this degree, they will not sell much.

For example, VR technology before the time travel, artificial intelligence products, if the sales price is only a few thousand, tens of thousands, of course, there will be rich people to consume. If it is raised to tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, the number of consumers will inevitably drop sharply, and it will not be able to sell at all.

For another example, if you sell a cross-era digital camera in Daming, the cost is two hundred taels of silver. Sell it for five hundred taels of silver, and someone should come to spend it; Selling thousands of silver, it is estimated that the sales volume will be reduced by half; If it is sold for 5,000 taels, no one will buy it except for a few very rich people.

The only thing that can make these squires and wealthy businessmen bankrupt and pawn their houses is gambling.

Since the issuance of the welfare lottery for half a year, the land deeds of the Taoyuan pawn have been 53,000 mu, and the real estate of the state capitals of Nanzhili has 3,500. Fang Yuan wanted to rely on gambling to cleanse the land and wealth of those official gentry, rich businessmen, rich second generations, second generation officials, and losers, and confiscate them into the public ownership of the regent's palace. He then used the cleaned land and real estate to engage in welfare undertakings and make a welfare lottery in the true sense.

Fang Yuan explained slightly, "Master Xi, and this lottery is called the Welfare Lottery, and the purpose of issuing it is of course for welfare. ”

Xi Benzhen said angrily, "What welfare has the regent done?!" ”

Fang Yuan smiled, and asked Xiao Yuan, who was in charge of the affairs of the Regent's Palace, to bring out the account books, and asked her to start reporting to Xi Benzhen.

Xiao Yuan's crisp voice sounded, "Master Xi, the Regent Mansion has opened a low-rent housing business in the fifteen state capitals in the south of the Yangtze River, and a total of 3,500 low-rent houses have been invested, and each low-rent house is rented to those homeless people at an ultra-low rent of one or two silver a year. ”

"The 52,000 acres of land confiscated by the Regent's palace employed 13,000 tenants who had previously been landless at a low rent of less than 30 percent."

"The welfare lottery subsidizes the elderly relief stations in the state capitals of Jiangnan every year, with a total of 100,000 taels of silver."

Fang Yuan listened to Xiao Yuan finish reading the account book, and asked rhetorically at Xi Benzhen, "Master Xi, aren't these doing welfare undertakings?!" These properties and properties fall into the hands of those losers, but they are just knocking out the bones and sucking the marrow, but in the regent palace, it is for the benefit of the country and the people! ”

Xi Benzhen suddenly realized that Fang Yuan had really done a lot of benefits, but not in the name of the cabinet, but in the name of the regent palace, he crossed the cabinet, so he didn't know.

Xi Benzhen had nothing to say, stared at Fang Yuan, and said loudly, "Regent, I confess my guilt, I am willing to bow to the law, please punish the Regent!" ”