The huge phoenix slammed into the ground and slid for several meters, and the phoenix's neck was broken and stuck upside down in its back.

Shangguan held the load-bearing pole tightly, and after the bump, smoke and dust rose all around.

Shangguan Wan'er walked out slowly.

"Lord Shangguan, are you alright?"

Several guards surrounded him.

The smoke cleared, and Shangguan Wan'er looked around looking for Qin Mu's figure, only to see Qin Mu lying motionless under the phoenix's wings.

"Quick! Remove your wings! ”

Several guards hurriedly shifted their wings to their positions.

Shangguan half-squatted and pulled Qin Mu's hands to drag him out.

"Qin Mu! Qin Mu... Wake up! ”

Qin Mu half-opened his eyes and spat out a mouthful of blood from his mouth.

Shangguan Wan'er panicked instantly, and hurriedly shouted, "Send him to the palace quickly." ”

Qin Mu's body resisted, but his head was dizzy, his body was tired, and he couldn't speak, so he was carried into the carriage.

A few hours later, Qin Mu woke up, looking at the unfamiliar environment around him, he got up and walked around.

He was deep in a palace, which was richly decorated and high enough to be the residence of a concubine.

"Her Royal Highness the Queen Mother has arrived!"

Qin Mu panicked instantly, he was about to see the Empress Wu so suddenly!

Before he could react, Empress Wu was accompanied by two maids and a eunuch, followed by Shangguan Wan'er, who had changed into a pink skirt.

Empress Wu looked at Qin Mu carefully, then walked to the bed and sat down.

"See Her Royal Highness the Queen Mother." Qin Mu saluted.

"The injuries are fine, are they?"

"Well, it's just a skin wound."

Empress Wu beckoned the other maids and eunuchs to leave the hall.

Shangguan Wan'er's face was calm, her eyes were empty, and she stood there quietly.

"This auspicious rui has won my heart, say, what reward do you want?"

Qin Mu was shocked in his heart, could it be that Shangguan Wan'er didn't tell Empress Wu about the conditions at all?

"All I need is a few mountains on Hedong Road."

Empress Wu looked at him in surprise, "Haha, it's worthy of being a genius, others either want to be promoted to the knighthood, or want gold and silver treasures, do you want that mountain to do timber business?" ”

"The mountains and forests have their own home, and what I need is fuel that can change Datang."

"Oh? There is coal there, but it's all mined by the Salt and Iron Division, except for the ones you choose. ”

"Her Royal Highness the Empress Dowager Xie."

Empress Wu continued: "I will no longer hold you accountable for the matter of Dali Temple, that is, the next time you go in, you don't have to go through so much trouble." ”

Qin Mu knew that Empress Wu was warning him, what he did Empress Wu was clear, if he dared to disagree with her again, she had a way to rectify Qin Mu.

"Qin is just asking for a way to live, I have been doing business in Luoyang since I was released from prison, and the Yelan rumors in the palace are from my shop."

"Well, that's good, but isn't it a bit condescending to use your intelligence to do business, I need someone like you in Datang."

"I have been lazy since I was a child, I can't be idle, and I don't care about human accidents, as a citizen of Datang, no matter what status, any status can contribute to Datang." Qin Mu politely refused.

"Smack!" Empress Wu took the case, "Qin Mu, don't know what to do, this day the world's scholars have squeezed their heads and want to enter the court as an official, I intend to recruit you, you are refusing in the third, do you have a big opinion on me?" Or are you just as opposed to the Pilgrimage as those people? Empress Wu said with a little anger.

Shangguan Wan'er glanced at Qin Mu and made him soften.

"No, Her Royal Highness the Queen Mother, I am very supportive of your dynasty, from ancient times to the present, patriarchy is in power, women are mostly vassals and tools for the continuation of future generations, in fact, who says that women are inferior to men, such as the Shangguan talent who plans auspicious with me, his wisdom and action are much better than many men.

Let's talk about the status of women in my Tang Dynasty, with the leading effect of Your Royal Highness the Empress Dowager in governing the country in the future, most of the workshops where I produce Yelan Ballads are married women, and they don't have to earn less money than their husbands, so it can be seen that women can hold up half a day, and it is not impossible to hold up the whole day in the future. ”

Qin Mu avoided his edge and turned to guide the issue of equality between men and women, for a woman in power like Empress Wu, women's rights are her veins.

"Wan'er, he's telling the truth."

Shangguan Wan'er replied: "He said that Wan'er has seen it with his own eyes. ”

"Hahaha, good!" Wu Hou's face changed in seconds, "Previously, you said between the lines through the mouths of others that you would focus on the development of commerce, do you know that cultivated land is the foundation of the country." ”

"I naturally know this, all our things now are based on agriculture, without the abundance of food, where will there be prosperity, what I said about heavy business does not mean suppressing agriculture, but using the prosperity of commerce to feed agriculture, so that the country can get rich and increase investment in agriculture."

After hearing this, Empress Wu had a strange look on her face, "No treacherous businessman has been like this since ancient times, you can't help but overestimate yourself and those businessmen, right?" At that time, the government and businessmen colluded, evaded taxes, bought land in large quantities, and let the people become their slaves for them to engage in commerce, and it would not be worse than now! ”

Qin Mu was calm, he also expected such a situation, according to the Tang Dynasty's uniform land system and government military system, the peasants were essentially restricted to death in one place, which restricted the development of industry and commerce, and even restricted the way out for ordinary people.

Like Qin Mu, he can also recruit a lot of employees in Luoyang City, if it is a small town, let alone recruiting people, no one will eat its set of big cakes.

"Her Royal Highness the Queen Mother is so soberly aware of the drawbacks of the current Juntian system, so why not reform it." Qin Mu said tentatively.

"Restructuring? I have this will, and I am also considering the restriction of the royal family that you said earlier, but the gentry and landlords of the entire Tang Dynasty are the most difficult to deal with, they are the key to taxation, and they are also the main ones in tax avoidance. ”

"Her Royal Highness the Queen Mother, this requires strict laws to do, what you are talking about is that public land has gradually become private land, resulting in less and less divisible land, once the population is too large, there will be no land to divide, the current uniform land system seems to be beautiful but has long been full of holes, reform is imperative.

And what I am talking about the development of business is actually not in conflict with agriculture, once the development of commerce, people without land can also make money, at that time the urgency is those who control a large amount of land landlords should be anxious, a person a few acres of land after paying taxes is only enough to barely live, but to work in the workshop, a few months can earn a few years of money, in fact, the essence of the development of business is to create more jobs to deal with the social instability caused by the displaced people after natural and man-made disasters. ”

After listening to this, Empress Wu pondered for a long time, "If everyone goes to work, then who will farm the land?" ”

"This requires us to find a balance between it, and business development is not an unlimited expansion, and the most critical point is that the country can collect more taxes and have more money to prosper and stabilize."

Qin Mu went back to the essence of the question, it doesn't matter who owns the land, what matters is who the money is, as long as there is enough money to support the army, it is almost impossible for those squires and landlords to rebel, and in the end they have to beg to sell the land to the imperial court.

"There is some truth in what you said, as long as everyone has enough to eat, business development is not all bad."

What Empress Wu wants is to raise more taxes to support the army and create thunder, as long as the army is stable in their hands, they can only listen to any reforms.

"Qin Mu, can you tell me how you want to develop business?" Empress Wu asked.