The French scholar Xie Henai said: "From the eleventh century to the thirteenth century, the general structure of Chinese society gradually changed, and between the upper elite and the popular group, a very different and extremely active class emerged and began to occupy an increasingly important position, and this class was the merchants." This emerging force has slowly weakened the foundations of Chinese society.

In this sense, the dawn of modern China was already revealed during the Song Dynasty. The well-known Song Dynasty has greatly improved its understanding of the merchant class, and it can be said that the situation has changed greatly, and its status is no longer as low as that of the previous dynasty. Rules such as not wearing silk clothes and riding horses and chariots have long been abolished, and the prohibition of merchants and their descendants from participating in the imperial examinations and serving as officials is no longer enforced, and people are not ashamed to do business. However, this is not always the case, although the status of merchants has changed, but after all, the Song Dynasty was a society based on an agricultural economy, and merchants could not fundamentally change the status of the 'untouchables'.

First of all, businessmen are the objects of government exploitation and oppression, and they are also the targets of extortion and extortion by officials at all levels, and they are still in a position of enslavement. At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the government did adopt a policy of protecting commercial circulation, so the commercial tax was relatively light, but once the political situation was stable and commerce became active, the government no longer reduced taxes, and even doubled the extortion, and established a national commercial tax network from Bianjing to the bazaar, and sometimes a dozen or so tax cards could be encountered in less than one county.

Secondly, in terms of daily life such as clothing, food, housing and transportation, the government has clear regulations on the clothing and means of transportation of all classes, and merchants are ranked after 'workers' and treated as the lower class of society, and the sedan chair is only allowed to be carried by two people. Even if the merchants later broke these rules, they did so when the government turned a blind eye.

Moreover, merchants could participate in the imperial examinations, which was also strictly forbidden in the early Song Dynasty. It was only during the Yingzong period that it was relaxed, but it was not unlimited, and the rules had to be 'prodigies'. Therefore, it is necessary to cultivate yourself or future generations into talents, or not ordinary talents, but 'geniuses'! This difficulty can be imagined, and at the same time, a large part of the businessman and his children will be quietly expelled from the outside!

Therefore, some big businessmen have changed their status through legal or illegal means such as buying officials, imperial examinations, and marriages. However, after all, business is aimed at profit, which inevitably makes people classify them as 'unkind, unjust, rude, unwise, and insincere' villains, and even if there are many of them who have good deeds, it is still difficult to change the society's evaluation of businessmen - their status in people's minds is still very low

"Xu Biao, are you still not convinced?" Dredging the road and appeasing the merchants, Zhao Ta turned his head to deal with Xu Biao, but when this kid was brought over, although he was beaten with twenty military sticks, he held his neck and tilted his head and slanted his eyes, and he still looked angry.

"Lord Wang, my subordinates are not convinced!" Xu Biao shook his head and said. "I don't care if you're willing to make way for these traders, but who doesn't know what kind of goods they are. Not even the donkey carts that carry dung to the fields will give way to them! ”

"Hehe, you mean that the king's chariot is not as good as the donkey cart that delivers dung?" Zhao Ta circled around him with his hands behind his back and said, he knows Xu Biao very well this kid, he is not afraid of not doing anything, but this kid is also a natural soldier, there is nothing to say about personal skills and tactics, leading soldiers and training soldiers are also afraid, as long as he is not used to things, no one dares to contradict him, and when he is in Beifu, he dares to provoke everyone to be very good with himself. And he is willing to use his brains, and there are many 'crooked ideas', Zhao Ta also likes him very much, and plans to let him take over the position of the dragon general.

"The subordinates didn't say that, but if the prince thinks so, the subordinates don't have an opinion!" Xu Biao snorted angrily, still looking like a dead pig who was not afraid of boiling water.

"Oh, you've learned to scold the fucking Huai, too!" Zhao Ta saw Xu Biao answer. Raised his hand and knocked his head.

"Lord Wang, there is an order in the army that 'you must not beat and insult a sergeant for no reason', Lord Wang, you have committed two at once!" Xu Biao rubbed his head vigorously and said with grinning teeth.

"You still know that there is this one. Then why do you disobey the orders and beat up the merchants? Zhao Tan nodded at Xu Biao's nose and shouted.

"I am to maintain the dignity of our loyal and brave army, you have to give way if you want to meet those merchants, we are killing all the way from Hedong to Lingzhou, who sees us must immediately avoid it, but now it is giving way to a group of people who are running for business, and their faces have fallen to the ground!" Xu Biao wiped the saliva sprayed on his face and said.

"Dignity?! Only you have dignity for the people in the world, but don't those merchants have dignity? If I hadn't stopped it just now, would you have shot again! Zhao Ta said with a sneer.

"Perhaps, look at them nodding their heads when they see the rich, and those who don't have money will cross their eyebrows and speak coldly, earning those unconscionable money, what dignity do they have, dignity has already made them step on the soles of their feet!" Xu Biao made another twist, and he was more energetic than the prince.

"Xu Biao, don't talk nonsense, you also stayed in Xiangyi Zhuangzi, don't you understand anything, isn't the reason why Zhuangzi can be prosperous and rich is not brought by those merchants?" Zhao Zhi saw that Xu Biao was becoming more and more unspeakable, and hurriedly spoke.

"Of course I know, but that's different!" How could Xu Biao not know the way, the difficulties of the prince when he built the army are obvious to all, the guys he wears and holds in his hands are all bought by the prince to make money by trading, there were no horses at that time, and later they were sold back from the northwest through caravans, it can be said that the prince is actually a big businessman! After Zhao Zhi mentioned this, he suddenly remembered, didn't he even scold the prince when he said this, but the words had already been said to this point, and he didn't want to admit defeat, so he could only stand up.

"What's the difference, isn't it more shameless for me to do it, my face fell to the ground and people stepped on two feet, if you want to scold me, just say it!" Zhao Ta snorted coldly and said.

"No, no, I don't mean that, Lord Wang, you do business for the country and the people, for our loyal soldiers, they are just for money, how can you be the same as them, and then I am your person, don't I scold you for myself!" Xu Biao didn't expect the prince to be so relatable, he dared to contradict the prince, and never showed that he was not faithful to the prince, he hurriedly explained.

"Xu Biao, businessmen are mercenary, otherwise there would be no business, but it is human nature to seek profit and avoid disadvantage, but everyone's pursuit is different, and businessmen pursue money; As a soldier, what you pursue is to defeat the enemy and become an official, right? Zhao Ta Zhengse said to Xu Biao, he nodded in acknowledgment and said, "Do you think that last year, we fought in the northwest, because of the war in Hedong and Hezhong, the fields were barren, the grain harvest failed, and hundreds of thousands of displaced people poured in, how to deal with the lack of food and money in our hands?" I think you've been hungry too, so I don't need to tell you what it's like! ”

"Well, since I can remember until I entered the palace, I haven't eaten a full meal, thinking that as long as I can give me a full meal, I can do anything!" Xu Biao nodded and said that if he could eat enough, he would not be sold into the palace as a servant by his family.

"The northwest can't be said to be useless, we have salt here, but people can't just eat salt to live, if you want to exchange these for money, for food, then you need to buy and sell, you need the help of businessmen, if you don't have them, don't say that you can still have the strength to play prestige on the road, you would have been hungry a long time ago!" Zhao Ta said, "Zhao Zhi, doesn't he hate businessmen, in order to prevent him from starving to death and freezing to death, his military salary next month will be exchanged for grain and cloth, which will make him embarrassed!" Zhao Ta said that, turned around and walked away.

"Lord, don't, don't do this, it's all my fault, can't I? I'm really convinced this time, if you still don't feel angry, you can beat me again with twenty military sticks" Xu Biao was anxious when he heard this, and shouted loudly, the Song Dynasty and the previous government mainly relied on the collection of grain, cloth and other goods from the people and distributed them, but issued currency. Xu Biao has 120 yuan of money every month, if it is exchanged for grain, it will be more than 1,000 catties, and it will not cost him his life to let him march and fight with a grain hoard every day!

"Don't shout, you're a bad mouth, obviously a good horse, but you sold a donkey for money, this time you angered the prince again, I see you have suffered again!" Zhao Zhi grabbed Xu Biao and whispered.

"All commanders, I have already admitted my mistake, in fact, I also know that our loyal and brave troops are all supported by a few caravans in the mansion, but they are a little unconvinced by the prince's attitude towards them, why bother to make way for them?" Xu Biao looked at the back of the prince and touched his head and said with a bitter face, secretly regretting in his heart, he dared to say anything when his brain was hot just now, forgetting that the prince's methods of the whole person are full of tricks, and if you don't get it, the prince will really get him a big cart and let them pull food around every day, and then he, the general on horseback, will become a chauffeur, not to mention the so-called dignity.

"Okay, the prince must have a deep meaning in doing this, you really have to take care of your temper in the future, and talk through your brain, otherwise how can you lead a good soldier in the future!" Zhao Zhi sighed and said, he was very helpless about this living treasure.

"I'll just command the envoys and lead some generals!" Xu Biao said with a smile, but suddenly realized that something was wrong, "Commander, are you going to leave too?" ”

"Where can I go, this dragon general is only a temporary agent, and when I return to Taiyuan, I will definitely take care of your eating, drinking, and Lazar, the prince originally wanted you to replace me, but you not only violated the general's order, but also scolded the prince in a roundabout way! I'm afraid this matter is hanging, and if it doesn't work out, it will fall on Zheng Ping's head! Zhao Zhi said with a smile.

"Actually, I don't want to do it, but if I let Zheng Ping, this kid take care of me in the future, I have to talk to the prince again!" Xu Biao was shocked, Zheng Ping and him have always been unconvinced, if he becomes a commander, how will he mix in the future.

Zhao Zhi looked at Xu Biao, who was like a burning buttocks, and went to find the prince, he shook his head with a smile, he had been troubled by his lack of leading troops in the past, but today from the conversation with the prince, he suddenly figured out one thing, defeating the enemy does not necessarily have to be on the battlefield, these caravans passing by in a hurry can also become their own army, and the goods in their hands can also become cannonballs fired at the enemy, and they have to open up a new battlefield to regain their dignity as a warrior

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