"Your Majesty."

Zhang Hongjing, the secretary of the Ministry of Commerce, saluted respectfully, but thought in his heart: In the end, it is the Son of Heaven, although he is still sick, he still has a bearing that is under control.

At this moment, Li Yu, who was lying on the couch, was looking at the first official secretary of the Ministry of Commerce with great interest, to see what good news he could bring to himself. Li Zhongyan on the side saw that Zhang Hongjing was a little distracted, and hurriedly coughed softly. Zhang Hongjing came back to his senses, took the time to give Li Zhongyan a grateful smile, and hurriedly said:

"Your Majesty, since the imperial court deliberately opened its doors, there has been an endless stream of merchants who come to the Ministry of Commerce every day to inquire. In accordance with His Majesty's will, the minister and the two squires talked with some of the merchants, and found that as His Majesty expected, there were many interested parties, and even some merchants wanted to donate all their children to a loose official, and it didn't matter how much they donated. ”

Peeked at Li Chen, and seeing that Li Yu was noncommittal, Zhang Hongjing said:

Judging from what the minister knows, the minister thinks that opening the door can indeed raise a lot of money in a short period of time. However, since then, the official position of the imperial court has become the object of buying and selling, and the merchants are heavy on profits, and it is inevitable that there will be a situation of being unkind to the rich, and the ministers think that they should be cautious about using money as a medium to open their doors. ”

Zhang Hongjing knew that the most important thing in doing things in Li Yu's hands was to know everything, otherwise His Majesty the Emperor would doubt his ability or have a problem with his ability. Sure enough, Li Yu was not annoyed by Zhang Hongjing's disagreement with his decision, but patiently enlightened:

"Zhang Qing, you are the first secretary of the Ministry of Commerce of Datang, why are you worried about the benefits of merchants? At present, the proportion of commercial tax has accounted for more than 50% of Datang's tax amount, to say that many scholars do not want to hear, Datang is now supported by businessmen, if there is no commercial tax, where can Datang do so many civil and military affairs in just a few years? I want the horses to run, and I want the horses not to eat grass, there has been no such thing since ancient times. Since people have indeed made great contributions, the court should admit it, otherwise who will be willing to work for the court in the future? You must know that the contribution of these businessmen is not only as simple as making money for the treasury, they are also the tentacles of Datang, continuously transmitting information from the surrounding areas to Datang, and spreading Datang's culture and the strength of Datang to all places. The current so-called liberalization of the door is just a little compensation to the businessmen by donating money, and if it is true, these official positions can be directly rewarded to them. Besides, don't just keep your eyes on the unscrupulous among the merchants, many of the big families have more unscrupulous children than merchants, do you want to abolish the big families? If you misbehave and commit adultery, you will naturally be under the control of the criminal department, so you just have to do your thing, and don't be influenced by others. Moreover, I heard that it is not only businessmen who want to donate a loose official, but also the children of many side branches of the family. As an important minister of the country, you must have a tolerant mind, you, don't be preconceived and cover the whole with partiality. ”

After Zhang Hongjing admitted his own wrongs and made up his mind to handle things well, Li Yu said again:

"Have I made the list of the first batch of merchants to be awarded by the Ministry of Commerce decided?"

Conferring knighthoods on merchants was one of the consensuses at the first meeting of last year's feast, at which generals Wang Chengyuan and Buyi Baiqi suggested that the scope of the awards be expanded, not only civil and military officials, but also those who did other things, to confer low-ranking titles such as viscounts or barons as long as they could achieve certain achievements. After the establishment of the Ministry of Commerce, Li Yu ordered the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Industry to organize the selection of merchants and craftsmen who were awarded knighthoods throughout the country. There are two criteria for the selection of businessmen, one is the actual performance of the business, and the other is the social responsibility of the businessman. To paraphrase the words of civil servant evaluation, it is performance and morality. There is only one criterion for the evaluation of craftsmen, and that is invention.

Li Yu once said at a cabinet meeting:

"Today's Confucian scholars praise the Yellow Emperor and praise the holy virtues of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, but who remembers that the Yellow Emperor once invented the boat, the Chao family built a house, the Shennong family once tasted a hundred herbs, and Shun once planted the land? Nowadays, people regard these jobs as cheap karma, and I think that this is really a serious reversal of the cart before the horse, without these things, people can't even live, what kind of unearthly deeds can they talk about? That's why I thought that if the public loser class was alive, he would be given a big knighthood. and Zhao Guo (Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the commander of Sosu Duwei, the improver of the cocoon car), also had to be awarded a big title. What they have done is immeasurably meritorious. ”

A series of saints were listed in succession, and the conservative ministers could not refute them, so they had to wait for the second sutra feast of this year with the mentality of reading jokes, looking forward to seeing the emperor and the new faction at the conference.

After Zhang Hongjing finished reporting the screening situation, Juwang Li Shu and Shao Wang Li Yue both came to see each other. These two people, as Du You's arms, presided over the affairs of the Jingshi University Hall, and came here to report on the preparations for the second sutra feast. Since Li Yu let them do it, he naturally didn't point fingers, but just reminded them:

"Don't forget to pay tribute to the soldiers who died in the battle of Longyou Hexi at the beginning of the conference."

"Zhu Er, Zhu Er! The third child, little bean! You were only awarded the military merit medal yesterday, why did you leave today, don't you want to return to your hometown? ”

Outside Shanzhou City, under Nanshan Fort, an officer who was serving in a team was beating his chest and pulling the corpse covered with a white cloth beside him. He was hanging on one arm, the row of military medals on his chest was dangling, and the snot and tears on his face were mixed together, and they were inseparable. Hearing the piercing cry, Li Wentong couldn't help frowning, his face was full of displeasure, and he said angrily:

"What kind of bastard thing is this? Lost the face of the army, dragged me out and cut it down! ”

The captain who was sincerely afraid of wanting to explain the plea suddenly froze on his face, and seeing that Li Wentong's personal soldiers were about to go to get people, the captain spoke angrily:

"Jie Shuai, that's not a bastard thing, he didn't lose the face of the army, he was just crying for his brother."