Father-in-law Zhu Di, I am so happy to marry the disfigured princess

Chapter 137 Chapter 130 Six Private sins, public interests! !Zhu Di's spy will not accept at night!
Frugality leads to decline, but luxury can prosper the Ming Dynasty?

Hearing such a point of view, everyone present was stunned.

Frugality is a virtue, in the era when Confucianism is deeply rooted in the bone marrow.

Down to the people, up to the emperor advocates diligence and thrift.

For example, Emperor Wenwen of the Han Dynasty, who was known for his frugality.

During the 23 years of the emperor's reign, there was no addition of chariots and uniforms.

He repeatedly issued edicts to prohibit the county and state from contributing rare treasures.She usually wears clothes made of rough black silk.The mausoleum that Emperor Wen prebuilt for himself also required simplicity.

During the 17 years of Song Gaozu Zhao Kuangyin's reign, he was diligent in his business, advocated thrift, and took simple meals.The daughter, Princess Wei, likes to dress up, and often wears embroidered and emerald clothes to enter and leave the palace.

Zhao Kuangyin reprimanded her and said: "Give me the clothes as soon as possible from today, and you are not allowed to wear this kind of clothes in the future, because they are luxurious and dazzling, and many people will imitate them!"

Even Zhu Yuanzhang, the current sage, took the lead in frugality and practiced it, educating people:
"The so-called economizers are not the first ones, so why take the lead?"

Seeing that an official was dressed luxuriously, he asked how much it cost.

The official replied: "Five hundred guan."

So he scolded and said: "Five hundred guan is the annual income of a farmer's family. It's only enough for you to make a piece of clothing. It's a waste of people's property to be so extravagant!"

The emperor advocates frugality and believes that resources should not be wasted, let alone the courtiers below?

However, Li Xiao's point of view is different from others.

Although Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Gaosui and others in the palace cannot be as frugal as the emperor's grandfather.

But also know this truth.

Zhu Gaoxu asked curiously: "Brother-in-law, you mean, our extravagance and extravagance can prosper Ming Dynasty?"

Hearing this, everyone looked at Li Xiao one after another to see how he would answer.

Li Xiao smiled and nodded, "That's right, frugality is not as good as consumption, and only consumption can promote economic development."

In Li Xiao's memory, the Ming Dynasty was poor, really poor!

It stands to reason that the Ming Dynasty was still after the Song Dynasty, and the economy should be developed.

But throughout the entire Ming Dynasty, this dynasty was not rich.

In comparison, let alone the Song Dynasty, even the Tang Dynasty can't compare.

During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty, the annual fiscal revenue of the imperial court was 1.6 million taels of silver.

During the Li Shimin period of the Tang Dynasty, the annual fiscal revenue of the imperial court was 3409.75 million taels of silver.

However, in the current Hongwu period, and even later in the Wanli period, the fiscal revenue was only 2080.2 million taels.

History is advancing, but the economy is not advancing. It is simply driving the economy backwards.

Li Xiao also thought of the most frugal emperor in history, Emperor Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty.

The emperor only ate four dishes for a meal, and his clothes were still mended, and he even skipped the annual birthday celebrations of himself and the empress.However, the Daoguang period was poorer than the Hongwu period.

What does it mean?
The emperor was frugal and could not affect the economy.

Consumption can promote the economy is the truth that ordinary students in the future will understand.

"economic development?"

Another new vocabulary, Zhu Gaosui immediately recorded this important point in his heart.

Lu Zhen didn't believe it in his heart, but this was his savior, and he didn't bother to argue with him.

On the other hand, Zhu Gaoxu became interested and asked, "Brother-in-law, why do you say that luxury can lead to prosperity? What's the reason for this?"

Um.
Li Xiao thought for a while, then smiled and said, "To answer this question, I have to ask you a question first."

Zhu Gaoxu said: "What's the problem?"

Li Xiao said: "First, we need to understand what currency is and what money is!"

"What is money?"

Zhu Gaoxu smiled and said, "What kind of problem is this? Isn't money just silver?"

Li Xiao took out an ingot of silver, put it on the table, and asked, "Then let me ask you, can this silver be eaten?"

Zhu Gaoxu shook his head.

Li Xiao asked again: "Aside from buying things, is there any other use for this money?"

Zhu Gaoxu thought for a while, then shook his head and said, "No, money can only be used to buy things."

Li Xiao asked: "Since silver can't be used for eating and drinking, and has no other uses, but can it be used to buy things?"

Zhu Gaoxu took it for granted: "It has been like this since ancient times, why are there so many?"

While talking, Zhu Gaoxu suddenly came to his senses and frowned slightly: "Oh, that's not right, this money really doesn't seem to be so useful, why can I buy things?"

Hearing this, others were also a little puzzled.

"This is currency. Silver is currency, and copper coins are also currency. Their function can only be to measure the value of items."

Li Xiao explained: "In ancient times, there was no currency. Some people hunted and some fished. Hunters only eat meat, and fishermen only eat fish. If hunters want to eat fish and fishermen want to eat meat, what should we do?"

"Back for things." Zhu Gaoxu said.

"That's right." Li Xiao smiled and said, "It's not accurate enough to exchange things, and it's also inconvenient, because the value of the items is not equal, how to solve it?"

There are no books on economics in this era, but Zhu Ningyun dabbled a bit, and replied: "During the Shang Dynasty, 'bei' was used as money, so this shell is currency, right?"

"That's right!"

Li Xiao nodded and said: "This is the source of currency. The earliest currency is 'Bei', but Bei is too easy to be copied."

"So gradually, people discovered a rare natural resource, which is more suitable as currency because of its rarity, that is gold and silver."

"This is currency. It has no value at all, and its only value is to be used for circulation and to measure the price of commodities."

Everyone was stunned when they heard it.

I don't understand what is the mystery of this.

And Li Xiao's next sentence made them start to understand.

"Currency has no value, its value is for circulation."

"Then let me ask everyone, once a large amount of money and wealth are gathered in the hands of a few people, if this person does not spend the money, can the money generate value?"

Hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu slapped his thigh and said:

"That's right, the Hui merchants and Shanxi merchants of the Ming Dynasty are very rich. I heard that the accumulated wealth of several generations is as high as tens of millions of taels of silver, which is more abundant than the imperial treasury. With so much money, how many lives do they have?" The world will never run out, and all these silver coins are useless."

Zhu Ningyun nodded slowly and said: "That is to say, money is like water, when it flows into rivers and down below, it can make people rich. That is what you call luxury leading to prosperity? Right?"

Li Xiao clapped his hands and praised: "Sister Ling'er is really smart! That's it."

These days, Li Xiao often speaks surprisingly, Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Ningyun are slowly able to keep up with Li Xiao's rhythm.

Lu Zhen who was at the side was extremely shocked. It turned out that he could explain it like this. It seemed to make sense.

Li Xiao continued: "In terms of personal interests, being frugal is definitely a good thing, because rich people also lose their fortunes. Naturally, it is better to encourage children to be frugal, and not to be too extravagant and wasteful."

"but."

"Luxury is a private sin, public good!"

"If a private person spends the money, someone will definitely earn the money. This is a good thing!"

"If the money doesn't circulate and the rich don't spend it, how can the people below earn money from the rich?"

"Make an analogy."

Li Xiao pointed to the dishes on the table, and said, "The dishes on this table cost 200 taels of silver, of which the fresh ingredients cost 50 taels of silver. For the 50 taels of silver, the merchant ships on the canal earned 20 taels of silver. The vendor of ingredients earned 20 taels of silver, while the farmer earned [-] taels of silver."

Li Xiao looked at Lu Zhen and asked, "We spent money, did everyone make money?"

Lu Zhen nodded: "It seems to be true!"

Li Xiaodao: "Let me ask you, if I am diligent and thrifty, and I can make do with rice and cabbage, can the people earn this amount of money?"

Lu Zhen hissed and gasped, nodded as if pounding garlic, and said:

"It is true that money does not circulate, it is like a pool of stagnant water, but ordinary circulation does not cost much silver. Rich people have so much money that they can't run out. They spend extravagantly, and the common people can earn more silver! In this way .”

Lu Zhen and Ji Gang looked at each other, apparently convinced by this reason.

"In this way, the people will become rich instead!"

Ji Gang said the following words.

"That's right!"

Li Xiao clapped his hands and said, "Doesn't this make sense?"

"Frugality decays, luxury flourishes."

"Luxury is the sin of the individual, the good of the public!"

"Wonderful, wonderful!"

Lu Zhen got up straight away, cupped his hands towards Li Xiao and said, "Young Master Xiao's philosophy is really an eye-opener for me! No wonder you are so rich and so proficient in the way of business."

"Don't dare to do it, I just figured it out on my own." Li Xiao smiled and waved his hands.

Ji Gang was shocked and felt that this matter could be reported to the Holy One, so he asked again: "Young Master Xiao, do you think that if rich merchants are allowed to spend a lot, the common people will definitely become rich?"

"This is for sure."

Li Xiao said with a smile: "Analyzing from a microscopic perspective, someone who manages the house diligently, reduces waste, and increases savings can often become rich. This is a personal benefit."

"But from a macro perspective, frugality is not good for economic growth."

"Public frugality will only lead to a decline in total social consumption expenditure, a decrease in total social commodity sales, a reduction in the production scale of merchants, an increase in the number of unemployed, a decline in people's income, and a decline in total social consumption expenditure. This is a vicious circle!"

"Only by encouraging consumption can we stimulate production and make the entire economic activity continue and circulate, and Ming Dynasty will be more prosperous!"

After such an explanation, everyone almost understands the truth.

However, such thinking is too advanced.

Although it sounds reasonable, there are still some doubts.

"After Mr. Xiao said so, I feel that this meal is worth it."

Lu Zhen burst out laughing, raised his wine glass and said, "Young Master Xiao, here's a toast to you."

Li Xiao held up his wine glass in return, thinking that it would be good for him in the future if the two of them teamed up.

"I'll go. My stomach feels a little uncomfortable. I'll go to the toilet first."

Zhu Gaosui planned to slip away first and record what he said just now, so as not to forget it.

"My stomach feels a little uncomfortable. Everyone, eat slowly. I'm sorry to leave for a while."

Ji Gang also stood up suddenly, and the two said it almost in unison.

So, in order to cover up their actions.

The two went to the toilet.

Enduring the stench, he began to copy Li Xiao's economic theory in the latrine.

An hour later.

The big ship braved the wind and waves and was about to arrive at the deep-water pier in Texas.

"Here we are, Texas is ahead."

"Let's take a break in Texas and start tomorrow."

The group was full of wine and food, and Li Xiao saw the scene of Texas not far away.

Li Xiao looked at Lu Zhen and said, "I don't know where you two will get off the boat? Rest for one night, we will continue to go south tomorrow, do we need to continue to take a ride?"

Lu Zhen was overwhelmed with flattery, and hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "Young Master Xiao's life-saving grace, I will never forget it. How dare you make more demands. Ji Gang and I happen to have official business in Dezhou."

Li Xiao didn't ask why they fell into the water, but cupped his hands and said, "Then today, let's say goodbye in Dezhou."

Lu Zhen bowed and said, "Just leave now."

When the boat stopped at the deep water pier, a group of people got off the boat.

After Li Xiao paid 20 taels of silver for stopping the boat, the group was just about to enter the border of Dezhou.

At this time, several officials in official clothes came to collect taxes.

"Please pay the freight tax. You need to pay 100 taels of silver for such a large cargo ship."

One of the fatter officials spoke, and the others blocked the way of Li Xiao and his party.

Li Xiao frowned and explained: "We just docked at zero o'clock, rested overnight, and did not stop. Moreover, this cargo ship did not deliver goods. If you don't believe me, you can enter the ship for inspection."

The fat official yelled: "There is no need for inspection. No matter whether there is cargo or not, as long as it is a cargo ship that enters the border of Texas, you need to pay freight tax."

Zhu Gaoxu was a little displeased when he heard the words, and said: "Fuck your mother, my ship didn't load the goods, so why should I pay the shipping tax, 100 taels? Why don't you fucking grab the money!"

"presumptuous!"

After the words fell, these officials drew their swords one after another. "You guys dare to speak against us, you really don't know what to do, take them back to the yamen!"

Lu Zhen was just about to bid farewell to everyone and leave when he saw this scene and stopped.

However, he didn't say anything, but just waited and watched.

As for Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Gaosui, and ten other guards, when they saw officials who dared to draw their swords at each other, they all drew out their swords and looked at each other angrily.

The fat subordinate in the lead saw that this group of people was aggressive, and he was not afraid at all. Obviously, he was not someone to be provoked, so he waved his hand to signal his subordinates not to draw their swords yet.

Then, he looked at Li Xiao and said, "This is the rule of our Texas government. If you don't want to pay the freight tax, we won't force you, just leave by boat."

There are indeed many piers along the canal, but a large cargo ship like Li Xiao can only berth at deep-water piers.

The next deep-water pier is in Linqing, five hundred miles away.

The officials in Dezhou County, the capital of Dezhou, collected taxes in this way, clearly targeting such large-scale merchant ships.

Li Xiao frowned slightly, looked at Zhu Gaoxu and said, "I really want to remember that the water transport tax is not collected by local yamen, it should be collected by the customs established by the water transport yamen under the household department?"

As soon as this remark came out, Zhu Gaoxu also suddenly realized, and said angrily: "Okay, you little Dezhou actually collected the water transport tax on behalf of the Ministry of Households. You are stealing the tax money from the court, how brave you are!"

The fat official chuckled and said disdainfully, "Master, your ears are not good. Do we collect water transportation tax? What we just said is freight tax."

"Freight tax?" Zhu Gaoxu was taken aback for a moment, and asked with a frown: "What kind of freight tax is there? Is there such a tax?"

The fat clerk said, "This is Texas tax."

Zhu Gaoxu said angrily: "You Dezhou government are so courageous! How dare you set up a name to collect exorbitant taxes indiscriminately, come and take it for me!"

"Hehe! Who do you think you are?" The officials didn't panic at all, they were covered by the Duke.

Seeing that it was about to start, Li Xiao stopped Zhu Gaoxu and said in a low voice: "Second brother, a strong dragon will not overwhelm a local snake, forget it, let's pay for the disaster."

"I can't swallow this breath, even a clown dares to be rampant!"

Everyone knows Zhu Gaoxu's temper, it's fine if he doesn't cause trouble, but there are still people shouting and shouting in front of him, can this be tolerated?
"Gao Xu, don't be impulsive, listen to your brother-in-law." Zhu Ningyun whispered.

Hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu let out a breath, resisted the impulse, snorted and stopped talking.

"We pay taxes, we pay taxes."

Li Xiao chuckled, took out a 100 taels silver note from his body, and handed it over.

"Isn't it going to be okay if it's already like this?"

After receiving the money, the fat official smiled immediately, waved his hand, and signaled to Li Xiao and the others that they could leave.

"Is there no proof?" Li Xiao asked.

"No, let's go, don't delay things."

The fat official said impatiently, and then walked towards another merchant ship.

Helpless, Li Xiao had no choice but to lead the crowd towards the county town.

Seeing today's scene, Li Xiao thought to himself that it is no wonder that it is difficult for businessmen in the Ming Dynasty to do so.

Not to mention all kinds of exorbitant taxes, and this kind of stumbling block who collects money randomly. Without a background behind them, it is impossible to expand the business, and no matter how rich they are, they will lose money.

"unlucky!"

Zhu Gaoxu's face was full of displeasure, and he suddenly thought of something, looked at Lu Zhen over there, and waved his hands: "What, Lu Zhen, aren't you a procurator in Shandong Province? Correct officials, rape and violence, why are you farting beside me just now? None of them?"

Lu Zhen walked over helplessly, and said in a low voice: "To be honest, I have already noticed that there are some problems in Dezhou. This trip is to investigate some things. I didn't expect that I was assassinated last night. Fortunately, all the benefactors came to the rescue. ah."

"what?"

Everyone was stunned.

The water in Texas is really unfathomable. As soon as someone came to investigate the case, he was assassinated?
He was so vicious that he dared to assassinate the imperial court official!

"It's so rampant."

Li Xiao was shocked, but fortunately he didn't have any conflicts with these people just now, so he chose to pay to avoid the disaster, otherwise he didn't know how much trouble he caused.

They came out this time to travel, not to fight crime, and they didn't bother to care about these things.

"Master Nalu, be careful in everything, just leave now."

Li Xiao could only support Lu Zhen psychologically, and then led everyone away from Lu Zhen, so as not to get angry
"Don't let it go."

Lu Zhen also cupped his hands helplessly, leading Ji Gang to walk in another direction.

"I really don't know if I don't come out, there are so many corrupt officials in Daming."

Zhu Gaosui couldn't help but sighed: "This Dezhou used to be the tenth uncle's fiefdom, no wonder it is so."

"What's the matter?" Zhu Gaoxu asked.

Zhu Gaosui whispered: "This is a secret, please don't spread it. The tenth uncle Lu Wang Zhu Tan used to castrate a child to make alchemy pills in the fief, and his grandfather gave him a punishment."

In the 22nd year of Hongwu, Zhu Tan poisoned himself to death by eating Jindan.

Zhu Gaoxu was surprised: "Really?"

Zhu Gaosui said: "Absolutely fidelity."

Zhu Gaoxu was startled: "Third brother, you can do it, you can always find out so many secrets."

Zhu Gaosui: "Don't talk nonsense."

Li Xiao with sharp ears on the side nodded: "Well, I won't talk nonsense."

Zhu Gaosui and Zhu Gaoxu: "."

"Okay, okay, let's find an inn to rest today, then go to the market to buy some items and food, and leave Texas early tomorrow."

Li Xiao suggested so, and then the group walked towards an inn.

The dog-legged Li Xiongzhi immediately entered the inn, checked up and down, booked the guest room, and then went to the market to purchase supplies with five personal guards.

Li Xiao and the others had just rested in the lobby of the inn, drinking some tea and planning to rest.

At this time, a man in cloth came over and sat down directly.

Li Xiao was a little confused, who is this person?

Seeing the clothed man make a slight gesture on his chest, Zhu Gaoxu knew who it was.

Whispered in Li Xiao's ear: "Brother-in-law, this is my father's secret agent. He doesn't come back at night, and he is one of our own. It is estimated that my father sent us a letter."

Sure enough, the man handed Zhu Gaoxu a letter calmly, then turned around and left without any verbal communication.

It turned out to be a letter from Zhu Di. Zhu Di knew that Li Xiao and his party traveled by water and passed through Dezhou, so he specially sent the letter to Zhu Ningyun to visit a senior named Gu Cheng in Dezhou.

Zhu Di liked to drill into the barracks since Zhu Yuanzhang started the incident.

It can be said that Zhu Di's combat skills, in addition to mainly learning from Xu Da, almost all the famous founding generals are his predecessors, masters.

Veteran Gu Chengcheng is one of them.

Moreover, during this period of time, Yao Guangxiao calculated the sky and felt that something big had happened.

Zhu Di was specially asked to win over the relationship between the whole court.

Ever since, Zhu Di wrote to Zhu Ningyun, asking him to stop by and visit Old General Gu Cheng to win over his feelings.

"Sister, it's a letter from my father and king."

Zhu Gaoxu opened the envelope and took a look, then handed it to Zhu Ningyun.

"Oh, it turns out that Old General Gu's mother is from Texas. Recently, her mother is not feeling well. She came to Texas to visit relatives. Let Li Xiao and I go to visit together."

After reading the letter, Zhu Ningyun looked at Li Xiao and said.

Li Xiao nodded and said, "Alright then, let's prepare a little gift and go visit later."

Gu Cheng and Li Xiao remembered this very clearly.

In the Battle of Jingnan, Gu Cheng was defeated and surrendered to Zhu Di.

Later, Zhu Di went to King Ning to borrow troops, leaving Zhu Gaochi and Gu Cheng to guard Beiping.

Faced with the siege of Li Jinglong's 50 troops, Beiping miraculously survived.

Everyone in the world said that it was the elder son Zhu Gaochi's credit, but in fact Li Xiao knew that Gu's success was indispensable.

Gu Cheng was the deputy general of Changxing Marquis Geng Bingwen for more than ten years.

Who is Geng Bingwen?
He was the only veteran Zhu Yuanzhang left behind for Zhu Yunqi.

In Daming, Xu Da, Chang Yuchun, Lan Yu... and other generals have their own strengths and weaknesses in terms of attack.

In terms of defense, Geng Bingwen is unique and unrivaled!

Zhu Yuanzhang left such a veteran to Zhu Yunqi to guard the country.

And Gu Cheng has been with Geng Bingwen for decades, and he is definitely neglected, because he has learned all the tactics of Geng Bingwen's defense of the city.

The fact that Beiping City was able to survive must be more than half of the credit for Gu Cheng.

If Beiping City falls, Zhu Di will undoubtedly lose.

Such a great hero Li Xiao will definitely treat him well.

"Let's go, let's pick out gifts and visit."

at the same time.

In Gu Cheng's mother's mansion, Gu Cheng was kneeling in front of his mother's bed and crying loudly.

The old woman on the bed, like a candle before the wind, will die at any moment.

"Mother, my child is not filial. I have not been filial to you for many years of fighting."

"Your old man, you must hold on."

"Come here, come here, hurry up and ask for a doctor, the best doctor!"

(End of this chapter)