"Your Majesty, these are the information of Mengjin County, and the county ordered Ma Zhou to apply for Mengjin County to be upgraded to a state county, so that it can match their status." Fang Xuanling said.

But Li Shimin said: "It was my virtuous son-in-law who made it, right?" In just a few months, Mengjin County has developed so rapidly that it is simply unacceptable. If it weren't for Jingwen, then who would have been able to have so many ghost ideas and be able to develop so quickly? And business taxes in Mengjin County already account for a quarter of all tax revenues and are increasing. If this continues, then I am afraid that Mengjin County will complete the process of becoming a commercial county, so can it still be called an agricultural county? ”

Fang Xuanling didn't know what to say, because he didn't have much experience in managing commercial towns. After all, in ancient times, agriculture was emphasized, and the Tang Dynasty's strategy for commerce was not deliberately discriminatory, nor would it be explicitly supported. But now Jingwen should rely on commercial investment and the support of various banks to turn a county into a commercial base. Mengjin County is bordered by the Yangtze River in the north, and water conservancy transportation is very common, which means that a commercial county can develop rapidly. The Tang Dynasty's policy of not deliberately suppressing commerce also made the commercial development of the middle and late Tang Dynasty very rapid. By the middle and late Tang Dynasty, in fact, the commercial tax was almost equal to the agricultural tax. However, the Tang Dynasty was not able to change the concept of governing the country in time, which caused local division and the collapse of the Tang Dynasty. Because commerce in the middle and late Tang Dynasty was developed by local forces, the central government did not support commerce. This led to a change in society, which further led to the collapse of the political situation in the Tang Dynasty.

"Your Majesty, after this period of analysis, in fact, commerce and agriculture are not necessarily natural opposites. In fact, business can often drive agriculture, that is, various production needs. If the merchants organize the production, then the people's food can be fully priced, and all kinds of materials can be produced by the merchants. In this case, pass guò to stimulate agriculture. It can be done. If we blindly pay attention to increasing grain production, there may also be a danger that grain will hurt the peasants, and the more grain the better. At this time, business is needed to regulate, and commerce can be used as a channel to regulate the country's products. ”

But Li Shimin looked at Fang Xuanling and asked with some surprise: "You can actually say this?" ”

"Hehe, Your Majesty, in fact, didn't Jingwen also say it? No agriculture is unstable, no work is not strong, no business is not rich. Shinong, industry and commerce have their own division of labor, rather than blindly improving the status of scholars. And to suppress the merchants. In the past, we still restricted merchants in a certain way, such as not allowing the descendants of merchants to take the imperial examination. But the minister has been thinking about it recently, if you can't let businessmen communicate with each other all over the country, then what is the difference between my Datang and a pool of stagnant water? My Datang territory is vast, if everyone keeps standing still, then what can we do in the central yamen of Datang? It is precisely because of the exchanges brought by businessmen that we can completely connect Datang. Otherwise, everyone is ploughing the fields facing the loess with their backs to the sky, and they don't ask about other world affairs, then the establishment of my Datang really doesn't have much meaning. Fang Xuanling said a very unkind word.

"And. Commerce can also bring wealth, and after we went to the Western Regions to exchange for a lot of wealth, then we can say that we have relieved a lot of pressure. If there was no wealth in exchange for the Western Regions, we Datang would have carried out so many reforms. I'm afraid it's going to collapse financially. And there is another important reason, that is, although the current population of our Datang is not very large, I am afraid that in less than 20 years, the population of our Datang will become more and more. Until they can't bear the pressure of land annexation. And we can't directly restrict land annexation, otherwise we ourselves will lose support. Then we can only shift this pressure, and on the one hand, we can consider opening up to the south. On the other hand, we can absorb more of the affluent population through guò commerce. In this way, we can make Datang have long-term peace and stability. ”

"If there is not enough business to absorb the wealthy population, then we will have to bear the population pressure ourselves, and in the end, if we can't afford it, we will force the people to rebel. So this is a problem that we have to face, so I also ask the minister to change a lot of business. According to Jingwen's message to the ministers, he had recruited thousands of female workers in Mengjin County, so that women could also earn income from now on, which was very helpful for the stability of the imperial court. If we keep our eyes on agriculture, once agriculture cannot meet the needs of the population, then in the end we can only be forced to turn to commerce. And when the time comes, I am afraid that the resistance to the development of business will also increase. In that case, we might as well develop business now. ”

"Xuan Ling, do you mean to let me directly agree to the establishment of a separate state in Mengjin County?" Li Shimin asked.

"Yes, the meaning of the minister is the same as Jingwen, that is, to take out a state and county as a practice. If this kind of business-dependent state can be sustained, then it can be considered to continue to relax restrictions on commerce in the future, so that people can have more channels to obtain profits. As long as the people have benefits, then my Datang can stabilize a lot. Fang Xuanling said.

Fang Xuanling also supported Jingwen, a special business zone, of course, in order to absorb a large number of wealthy people through guò commerce in the future. In ancient times, industry and commerce could not be separated, so Fang Xuanling also hoped that agriculture and commerce would be equally important, so as to absorb more wealthy people and make the country's population pressure not so great.

And if you want to set up a special commercial zone, of course, it is necessary to make Mengjin County a higher level, so that if Mengjin County is kept under the jurisdiction of Luoyang, then I am afraid that many officials in Luoyang will be able to intervene. In the words of later generations, there are too many "mothers-in-law" above. If a separate state and county can be established, then there is only one upper Mengjin County, which is directly under Shangshu Province, so there will be a lot less chance of being interfered with by others. This is also the meaning of Fang Xuanling, so that Mengjin County can be listed separately and will not be interfered with too much.

"Since this is the case, then I also agreed to Mengjin County to form a separate state. How about being called 'Mengzhou'? Li Shimin asked.

And Fang Xuanling immediately said: "The emperor is wise! ”

In this way, the upgrading of Mengjin County to Mengzhou can almost be successful, and the next thing is to divide the interests among everyone, because a state and a county, those are completely different things! (To be continued......)