Shinong industry and commerce, this is the classification of all kinds of people in the world since ancient times, the position of the merchant is the lowest, even those craftsmen and artists are one level higher than the merchant, so the position of the merchant in the late Han Dynasty is very embarrassing, although there is enough prestige and countless money and grain, but he can never raise his chest uprightly to be a man, because as long as he is in business, the status of his life will be set.

Therefore, after making a fortune, most businessmen will buy a title or identity from the imperial court to show their differences, but the question is, some things, even if you have money, you can't do it, is the official position of the imperial court so easy to get? If you spend money to buy a knighthood today, you may be taken away tomorrow, and in the end, you spend money, and the purchase is still empty, how many people will be big-headed ghosts again.

And the position of the city lord, is Liu Tai's means of tempting businessmen, what to reduce taxes merchants although they are also very important, but there is no city lord to come to the truth, and the most important point, all the city lords, who made great contributions when they took office, can be passed on for three generations, the Han people since ancient times The most important thing is inheritance, if the position of the city lord can be passed down from generation to generation to benefit the descendants, I am afraid that the vast majority of merchants and landlords will go crazy to fight for the right to build the city.

Liu Tai shook his head, looked at Tian Feng and many courtiers, and patiently explained: "Zhugong, in fact, a country is like a person's body, Shinong, Industry and Commerce are all parts of the Chengren body, Shi is the core part of a country, just like a person's head, responsible for thinking and conveying various instructions, if there is no brain, this person is not far from death." ”

"Agriculture is the foundation of a country, just like the bones of the human body, if the bones are necrotic, this person will naturally have no hope, and I think the princes will also affirm that agriculture has survived in the important surnames of all dynasties."

"As for industry, it is the source of a strong country, just like the muscles of the human body, which holds the foundation of Guo Jia's strength, such as the clothes worn by the princes, the weapons used, and the mansions in which they lived, which ones were not made by the workers? Therefore, industry is also indispensable. ”

"The last thing is business, which is like the manifestation of the flow of blood in the human body, they transport blood from the heart to all parts of the body, ensuring the vitality of the person, maintaining the health and vitality of all parts of the human body."

"Ladies and gentlemen, if my northern Xinjiang is like all dynasties and dynasties, suppressing the circulation of commerce, isn't that just clogging my own blood? If the blood is clogged, the human body will get sick, either something is wrong here, or something is wrong there, and from time to time there is a small illness, can you stand it? So what Tai wants is the circulation of blood all over the body, turning the northern frontier into a huge war machine, the merchants are the promoters of our war, with them, the land we have laid, we are not afraid of not being able to occupy, as long as we pay a certain number of troops, to protect the construction and security of its cities, our rear will be built one city after another, and then it will not be like the era of Emperor Wu, because the Huns are far away from the desert north, and the whip is out of reach, so they can only let it develop, if our rear is not far away is a city, There are our supply bases everywhere, why worry about the uncertain grassland, and the Hu people will not be destroyed? Liu Tai said a lot in one breath, and also made everyone present realize the important surname of business, of course, it is impossible to understand Liu Tai's meaning all, Liu Tai only hopes that they can leave this thought in their hearts, and they will no longer despise commerce for no reason in the future, resulting in the lack of logistics supplies for foreign conquests in Northern Xinjiang.

"Hey, the lord's statement can indeed convince Feng, but Feng still doesn't want the lord to give too many benefits to the merchants, after all, the merchants are many deceitful people, if the merchants control the city, in case they unite in the future, when our army is on the Northern Expedition, make small moves behind the back, I am afraid that our army will suffer heavy losses." It turned out that Tian Feng was worried that if he gave too much power to the businessman, he would backfire on Liu Tai when the time came.

Liu Tai nodded, this one can't help but worry, after all, Liu Tai knows that those constitutional monarchies in Britain in the future are all forced to establish constitutions by businessmen and tycoons, and when businessmen one day grasp the lifeblood of the country, this kind of thing will happen sooner or later, even Liu Tai can't stop it.

"Order, from now on, all merchants who do business in the two states are not allowed to recruit private soldiers, the guards cannot exceed 100, the fields cannot be overturned, and those who invest in the construction of the city only have the honorary city lordship, no actual rights, the successor is an official and not a businessman, and a businessman is not allowed to be an official, well, the implementation of the last article is suspended, and it will be formulated after the world is truly peaceful!" Liu Tai suddenly remembered that Guo Jia's identity at this time was very embarrassing, the controller of the Kyushu Commercial Bank, the largest businessman in Erzhou, if he was not allowed to be an official in business, he would be the first to fire Guo Jia.

"Good! In this way, the rights of merchants are greatly restricted, although an honorary city lord does not have much power, but it can also make those merchants fight frantically in order to change their identity, and the city lord and merchant lord can make some large merchants stand apart, greatly weakening their strength. Tian Feng nodded with satisfaction, if it is really arranged according to Liu Tai, even if the merchants have more money, they will not be able to make much waves, and an honorary city lord can also drag those big merchants to the chariot in the northern Xinjiang, why not?

"I don't know how many cities the lord wants to build on the grassland, and what is the coverage area?" Guo Jia saw that the merchant's investment in the construction of the city was a foregone conclusion, so he stepped forward and asked loudly.

Liu Tai smiled at the corner of his mouth, turned to look at the map: "In addition to Shengle and the two cities of American, Tai wants to build ten more small counties around the two cities, each of which belongs to the five cities, and divides the scope of the two cities into two counties. To the northwest of Shengle is the Northern Xiongnu. ”

"Shengle is the place of the four wars, and the Northern Xinjiang Army's foreign use of troops should be based on this, if a city is built here, it can not only curb the communication of the grassland tribes in the four directions, but also quickly aggravate the deterioration of the relationship between the Xianbei in the central part of the country and the Xianbei in the West River, of course, before that, Meiji here, to build a city first, as a bridgehead to capture Shengle."

Speaking of this, Liu Tai paused, the area where Meiji is located is actually the historical Pingcheng (Pingcheng is real, Meiji is fictional), in the late Western Han Dynasty, when Wang Mang usurped power, the Southern Xiongnu obtained, after more than two hundred years, it was only taken back by Liu Tai at this time.

"It is true that Shengle is the place of the four wars, but the lord has thought that if the city is built in Shengle, it is very likely to be harassed by Xianbei and the Northern Xiongnu, after all, many leaders of the Northern Xiongnu and Xianbei are not fools, Shengle said in the past Under the governance of the Southern Xiongnu, they may still be able to tolerate it, but if they are ruled by my northern Xinjiang" Tian Feng's meaning is self-evident, Liu Tai should have no problem if he wants to defeat the Southern Xiongnu, but it is not so easy to occupy this treasure land of the Quartet tribe market.

Liu Tai nodded approvingly, and said with a smile: "That's why Tai will build a city in Meiji first, after all, Meiji is adjacent to Shengle in the north, and the defense line of the Great Wall in the south. ”

"This" everyone present was speechless, it turned out that the Northern Xiongnu and Xianbei had long been regarded as a plate of Chinese food, if the two clans came to attack Shengle on a large scale, it would be a little difficult for Shengle to build a city, but if it was a small part of the disturbance, it was simply beyond Liu Tai's request.