Fang Yuan picked up the first one, and the prefects of the four prefectures jointly applied for the construction of the official road connecting Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, and Zhenjiang, and needed to allocate 600,000 taels of silver, and asked lightly, "Xiaoyuan, why did you refuse this ticket?" ”

Xiao Yuan looked at the ticket and said, "There is already an official road between the four mansions, why do you still need to repair it?" The government of the four prefectures is clearly in the name of building roads to collect money. ”

Fang Yuan put the ticket and said slowly, "If you want to get rich, build the road first." Only when the roads are cleared will the cost of transporting commodities and goods be reduced, the flow of merchants and hired laborers from all walks of life will be smoother, and the fields in the poor ravines will be of greater value. I have walked through the original official road of Sifu, which has fallen into disrepair, and it is not a straight line distance, if the road from Zhenjiang Mansion to Songjiang Mansion is too long. It is also imperative to build an official road leading directly to the four prefectures. ”

Xiao Yuan was surprised and said, "Childe, this is 600,000 taels of silver, and the silver in the Governor's Mansion did not fall from the sky. ”

Fang Yuan looked at the ticket plan and said with a smile, "Who said that building a road is a matter of spending money?" Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty repaired the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, which facilitated the transportation between the north and the south, not to mention, after a thousand years, all dynasties were collecting tolls. You said that spending millions of labor to build this Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is a loss or a gain? ”

He placed the ticket in front of Xiao Yuan and continued, "So! This road really needs to be repaired, not only to repair, but also not only to repair the official roads of the four prefectures, and then to connect the richest state capitals in the south of the Yangtze River such as Hangzhou, Huzhou, and Jiaxing, and the waterways of the Grand Canal, and directly build an official road connecting the seven prefectures and the Grand Canal! ”

He suddenly threw out such a large-scale infrastructure plan, Xiao Yuan was distressed by the silver in the private treasury of the Governor's Mansion, and asked in surprise, "Childe, this, I'm afraid it will take two million taels of silver!" ”

Fang Yuan said lightly, "I will arrange for Jinyiwei to set up checkpoints along the way and collect tolls." With the amount of commodities and goods circulating between these seven prefectures, one hundred thousand taels of silver will be collected every year, and it will return to its original cost in ten or twenty years, and then it will be earned in vain. ”

Xiao Yuan suddenly realized that his idea was to follow the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and the official toll collection would offset the cost of infrastructure construction, and he hurriedly redrafted the official document for approval.

Fang Yuan held up the second one, regarding the proposal of Jiangnan University Hall to apply for a special household registration in the countryside, or the admission fee of the Baiding family in the city, and asked, "Why did you refuse this vote?" ”

Xiao Yuan looked at it and said, "Those people in the countryside, Bai Ding in the city, come to learn if they have silver, don't learn if they don't have silver, why do you want to reduce it?" ”

Fang Yuan said slowly, "Xiaoyuan, the tuition waiver is to let more people, who are illiterate, Bai Ding can be literate and learn, so that they can know the road and be sensible." ”

Xiao Yuan retorted unconvinced, "Confucius has clouds, and the people can make it happen, but they can't know it." They only need to follow the government's policy, so why make them understand so many truths? ”

'The people can make it, but they can't make it known', how to break the sentence of Confucius, how to interpret it, whether to advocate the policy of ignoring the people, or to advocate benevolence and love for the people. For thousands of years, it was the opinion of the benevolent and the wise, and it was interpreted at will according to the ruler's own needs.

Fang Yuan didn't want to investigate what the original intention of Old Master Kong's original words was, but the advantages and disadvantages of the foolish policy were clear at a glance. The advantage is that the common people are raised as pigs, which can ensure the long-term survival of the country; However, the shortcomings are also obvious, which seriously curbs the imagination and creativity of the people.

Without exception, China's feudal society either implemented a policy of fooling the people, or 1% of the social elite ruled over 99% of the foolish people who could only work and did not think.

In the absence of foreign aggression, this pyramid-shaped policy of fooling the people may be effective. But in the event of an invasion by a strong foreign enemy, the drawbacks of this foolish model are obvious. It only needs to defeat the elite at the top of the pyramid, and the rest of the people will follow Zhang San, who is following the flow, and Li Si is coming from Li Si.

China's history of being ruled by a foreign race with a population of only a few million twice, and being beaten by Europe and the United States in modern times is a comprehensive embodiment of the shortcomings of this policy of ignoring the people. If it were not for the opening up of the people's wisdom and the rise of nationalism during the Republic of China, it is almost foreseeable that the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression would never last for eight years and would collapse on all fronts.

The current situation is that although there has not been a large-scale invasion by European and American countries, they have already hit the door. If we close ourselves off the country and implement the policy of ignoring the people, the direction of historical development is almost conceivable, and we will return to the established track.

With this reasoning, Fang Yuan didn't plan to communicate with Xiao Yuan, because the exchange would involve the exposure of his identity as a traverser, but he just said lightly, "Xiao Yuan, if you want to strengthen the army, strengthen the country and enrich the people, agriculture alone will not work, you must vigorously develop industry, commerce and service industries." If the people are completely illiterate, and they are not able to do even the simplest work as a workshop employee, what can they do but farm? Where did so much labor come from to produce silk, porcelain, and other goods? Not to mention the high-tech work of building guns, cannons, and warships. ”

Xiao Yuan didn't seem to understand when she heard it, but since Fang Yuan insisted on reducing it, she couldn't disobey it, so she could only agree, "I can't say Childe, this ticket is proposed, how does Childe want to approve it?" ”

Fang Yuan pondered for a while and said, "The ticket plan can be executed, so that Jiangnan University Hall will open a special college for universal literacy. There is only one condition for reducing or exempting tuition fees, but those who graduate from Confucian colleges cannot participate in the imperial examination within three years, and must serve as teachers in Jiangnan University Hall to popularize literacy and teach those illiterate people to popularize literacy. People who are willing to come to learn literacy can pay 50 literature fees to enroll. ”

Xiao Yuan followed his thoughts and redrafted the approval document again.

Fang Yuan picked up the third ticket again, which was about Liu Ru's request to preside over the "Jiangnan Weekly" to change the monthly report to a semi-monthly report and increase the monthly budget by 1,000 taels, and asked, "Why did you refuse this?" ”

Xiao Yuan lowered his gaze and said, "Childe, you are spending money to support Sister Liu by running this "Jiangnan Weekly"!" Isn't a thousand taels of silver a month enough for her to spend, so why do you need to add another thousand taels of silver? There are hundreds of people in the Canglang Pavilion, and it is only 4,000 taels of silver per month! ”

Fang Yuan stretched out his finger and tapped at the door of her head, and said angrily, "In your brain, you can't think of anything else except to be jealous?" ”

Xiao Yuan Jiao said angrily, "What is the use of this "Jiangnan Weekly"? Didn't Childe spend money to make Sister Liu happy? ”

Fang Yuan couldn't laugh or cry when he heard this, and said patiently, "Spending one tael of silver in the propaganda field is equivalent to spending five taels of silver in the military field." Fighting for the world is fighting for the hearts and minds of the people, not only to have military deterrence, but also to compete for the right to speak in the field of propaganda, understand? Sister Liu wants to change the "Jiangnan Weekly" monthly newspaper to a semi-monthly newspaper, which is to strengthen the bombardment of public opinion and dominate the right to speak, but it only costs 2,000 taels of silver a month, and the actual effect is greater than 20,000 taels or 100,000 taels of silver, understand? ”

Fang Yuan spent this money, not only to find a livelihood for Liu Ru that she liked, but also an indispensable part of competing for the right to speak.

The importance of public opinion propaganda, Fang Yuan was deeply aware of before crossing, a large wave of water armies dominated the screen on the Internet, and they could reverse black and white and package sluts into white lotuses. Leverage the maximum leverage with the smallest capital is none other than publicity. Ordinary people usually have little reason and judgment, and only need to control the right to speak, brainwash them constantly, and lead them to shout slogans to achieve an effect that thousands of troops can't achieve.

Xiao Yuan sighed lightly and drafted an approval according to Fang Yuan's intentions.

Fang Yuan picked up the fourth ticket, which was about Cohen of the Dutch East India Company's request to open Zhenhaiwei as a treaty port, and asked, "What about this one?" Why refuse? ”

Xiao Yuan groaned and said, "The national policy of the Ming Dynasty is that the piece of armor must not go into the water, and it cannot trade with foreign countries, how can it open the treaty port?" What if a wolf is lured in? ”

Fang Yuan smiled and said, "The reason why the Ming Dynasty implemented the policy of banning the sea is nothing more than worrying about the troubles of the Japanese and the people of the foreign domain. My Ming Dynasty has a trade surplus with the West, earning a lot of gold, silver, iron ore, and commodities all over the world every year, why not do a profitable business? Strengthen business with Western countries, but also learn from the strengths of others, improve the shortcomings of science and technology of my Ming Dynasty, why not do business? For the sake of a few Japanese people, the sea ban was implemented, which was a way to cure the symptoms but not the root cause. ”

Xiao Yuan heard that he actually wanted to open Zhenhaiwei as a treaty port, and said tentatively, "Then I will approve it according to Gongzi's idea." ”

"Wait!"

Fang Yuan took the ticket and looked at it carefully, and said, "The Dutch people have come just in time, don't approve it for the time being, just reply to the cabinet, and order Cohen of the East India Company to come to Suzhou Mansion, I have a big business to discuss with the Dutch people in detail." ”

Xiao Yuan was stunned and asked, "What other big business is there?" ”

Fang Yuan stared at the ticket in his hand and slowly spit out a few words, "Of course it's a big business to recover Taiwan!" ”