In the front hall of the palace, Gao Jiong, who was waiting for Yang Ji, saw him arriving and quickly stepped forward to salute with his hands in his hands: "Gao Jiong, who is of humble rank, comes to see King Wei."

"Grandpa Gao, please take a seat!" For this person, although he is no longer the prime minister, his achievements and prestige have already surpassed that of the prime minister. Yang Ji is really not qualified to act like a boss or a prince. But what makes him helpless is: Gao Ji

After Jiong became the governor of Liangzhou, he never did any official work for a day. If it weren't for the purpose of covering his position as "envoy to the Western Regions", Yang Ji would have asked Yang Jian to step down from his post.

Gao Jiong secretly smiled bitterly. He knew that Yang Ji was unhappy with him, and he also knew that the reason why Yang Ji was unhappy with him was because he had coerced and lured the people in the city to lie. After all, Gao Jiong did something unreasonable in this matter, causing Dugu Mincheng to suffer.

He became the laughing stock of the whole city and almost made Yang Ji unable to find a wife.

Later, he asked his wife to come to propose marriage. If Yang Ji didn't know that he was causing trouble, then he would not be in the position he is today. So it was normal for Yang Ji to dislike him. Of course, he didn't care anymore.

.

Gao Jiong coughed dryly and said shamelessly: "King Wei, don't blame me for what I did back then. If you want to blame me, blame you for being too good. Who wouldn't miss someone as good as you? Do your best.

Think about it from this perspective. If I hadn’t helped you cover it up in the first place, would you have been able to marry such an outstanding woman as the princess? There’s no need to be grateful, but at least you can’t blame me, right?”

After hearing this, Yang Ji found that he was speechless. He stared at Gao Jiong for a while and then waved his hand: "That's it, this matter is over. Don't mention it again in the future."

"King Wei said this, I feel relieved now." Gao Jiong heard what Yang Ji said, and he breathed a sigh of relief. The situation of his Gao family was worse than anyone else; upwards, he had made enemies with Yang Jian during the fight for the heir apparent.

and Yang Guang, and then they will seclude themselves from the world. If Yang Guang ignores him in the future, or liquidates him afterwards, the situation of the Gao family will be

It would be in jeopardy. It is precisely because of this that Gao Jiong slowly moved closer to Yang Jian and Yang Guang under the irreversible situation. However, Yang Ji was a very key figure in this. If Yang Ji continued to be dissatisfied with him and slandered him,

The Gao family was also having a hard time, but now that he heard what Yang Ji said, Manager Gao Jiong felt relieved.

He handed a thick roster to Yang Ji and said: "King Wei, this is 80% of the fertile land of my Gao family. Now it has been distributed to 80% of the slaves in accordance with the court's land equalization system. I hope you can hand it over on my behalf."

Giving it to the prince can be regarded as the Gao family doing their little bit for the world..."

"Wait a minute, wait a minute..." Yang Ji frowned and interrupted Gao Jiong's words: "Do you mean not only to dedicate 80% of the farmland to the court, but also to release all the 80% of the slaves?

"

Slaves were the most despicable group in the Sui Dynasty. Their fate and future were in the hands of their masters. Their lives belonged to the master's family, and the lives of future generations still belonged to the master's family. According to the "Kaihuang Law", the master of the family had the right to execute the slaves in the family.

The person has the right to only pay for the funeral expenses and does not need to bear any legal liability afterwards.

In other words, domestic servants are no different from animals and are equal to the property of the owner.

A slave was property.

Just imagine, if you have thousands of strong slaves working for free year after year, day after day, generation after generation, how much wealth will be created? Now, this guy Gao Qiao actually wants 80% of the slaves to be released?

Gao Jiong said of course: "The Gao family has a lot of wealth, shops and caravans, and the money they get from business every year far exceeds the land income; every time there is a disaster, the Gao family has to replenish the land with business income."

Loss, relieving slaves, and calculating the income over ten years, the Gao family actually lost money in terms of land and slaves. They had no choice but to Gao

The family will be politically correct in the future. The current shops and caravans alone are enough to ensure that several generations can live a life of fine clothing and fine food. Why use so many slaves? It is too low-level to use the number of slaves to show whether a family is prosperous.

"If the Gao family releases a good slave family, it will bring one more good people to the Sui Dynasty, and it will bring one more tax revenue for the Sui Dynasty and one more quota for conscription."

Yang Ji stood in awe.

How did the aristocratic families prosper? Hiding the population was the most important method. They took the tax revenue and corvee that should belong to the country as their own, and gradually became prosperous.

It is precisely because of this that every family member in troubled times will hide their population and occupy unclaimed land to increase their own strength. When the world is at peace, the new dynasty will inevitably shake its foundation and acquiesce to this established fact.

.

After the chaos of the late Sui Dynasty in history, the social situation of sharp population decline in the early Tang Dynasty was because some people died in the war, but more of the population was hidden by aristocratic families, and Li Yuan and Li Shimin did not

Those who dared to be as clean as Yang Jian and Yang Guang did not dare to offend the interests of aristocratic families, so there were only about 8.5 million people in the early Tang Dynasty.

But now Gao Jiong did the opposite. If all the noble families were like Gao Jiong, how many more household registrations and population would there be in the Sui Dynasty?

How much more taxes and corvees will the court pay each year?

"Gong Gao serves the country and the people, he is a model!" Yang Ji said sincerely. To be honest, Prince Wei's palace actually has a lot of fertile land and slaves, but as Gao Jue said, the palace's income from land is far less than the income from business.

.

But the slaves in the palace were reduced to being like livestock, seemingly without any dignity, but they also avoided the burdens of taxes, corvees, military service and other burdens. They only had to deal with it day after day, year after year.

can live a life of food and clothing. In the year of great disaster, the palace

The lives of slaves in the palace were better than those in small places. It is for this reason that even if the palace freed some slaves, they would still be willing to become tenants of the palace in the end. In this case, everyone lost their sense of responsibility and self-reliance.

courage and ability.

These slaves gave Yang Ji the feeling that their bones were soft and their spines were broken, as if they had been slaves for a long time and one or two of them had forgotten that they were still alone. It was very difficult for them to stand up again.

Gao Jiong's actions were obviously a tough way to force the slaves of the Gao family to stand up on their own. Once they lost the protection of the Gao family, it would be difficult for these slaves to be tough.

"Frankly speaking, this is actually a decision I made for the future of the Gao family." Gao Jiong glanced at Yang Ji and continued: "The existence of slaves allows the family members to hide their population as they wish, and allows the family members to have enough power.

The tyrannical power of changing dynasties. Gao Jiafang

Although Liang's 80% slaves are nothing to the whole world, they at least set an example and let everyone know that it is illegal to hide as a slave at will. Next, I will propose to the saint, the prince, and the court,

Severe punishment will be given to the noble families who hide their people."

Yang Ji was stunned when he heard this, and said to Gao Jiong: "Mr. Gao, if you really do this, all the famous families in the world will hate you."

"Of course I know this." Gao Jiong raised his eyebrows: "When I proposed the method of losing family status and inspecting appearance, I was actually hated by the family members. It doesn't matter if I hate you a little more."

"I understand!" Yang Ji said with a smile: "Does Duke Gao want to be a lonely minister?"

Gao Jiao smiled and said: "I have always been a lonely minister, so why not be a lone minister again?"

Yang Ji glanced at the roster in his hand and said to Gao Jiong: "Gaogong is a great wise man. Only when you give up can you gain something. I will definitely give it to the prince and let these rosters be settled in the prefecture and county where he is located."

"Thank you very much." Gao Jiu saluted and continued: "During the days of the Hanshi demonstration, I have deeply felt the power of the Hanshi. If an emperor can integrate the Hanshi and the people at the bottom, they will definitely form a unified force.

The terrifying power of stock-share reform changing heaven and earth. In the face of this power, the situation of the world's aristocratic families is worrying!"

"So Duke Gao released these slaves?" Yang Ji asked with a smile.

"That's right!" Gao Jiong said very frankly: "I am worried that the Gao family will become the next unlucky family, so I take the first step."

"According to what you said, there are already families that are in trouble now." Yang Ji pondered for a while and then asked: "Which aristocratic families are in trouble now?"

"Of course it's the Bolingcui family." Gao Jiong glanced at Yang Ji and said: "After you announced the list of prisoners, the Bolingcui family's ancestral home was surrounded by poor people, and they were criticized verbally and written. The reputation in Shilin

, their status plummeted. Their influence in the officialdom was also purged. In addition to Cui Zhongfang and those criminal officials, more than half of the other disciples were dismissed. The decline of the Boling Cui family is inevitable. "

Yang Ji didn't pay attention to the local officialdom outside Liangzhou, so he didn't know that the imperial court had already taken action against the Bolingcui family. He asked again: "In this great purge of the Bolingcui family, do you represent Bohai Gao?"

Did you take action?"

"I have nothing to do with the Bohai Gao family for a long time. There is no contact between the two, so I don't know if they took action. Anyway, I just became a spectator." Gao Jiong finished explaining and emphasizing,

Just now

The topic continued: "Today's Bolingcui family is in a miserable situation where everyone is pushing them down. Therefore, there are many family members who have contributed. Whoever benefits from it is the one who contributes. Nowadays, the Bolingcui family is probably full of hatred.

You are."

"I don't care!" Yang Ji laughed and said, "Who benefits the most?"

"Qinghe Cui family!" Gao Jiong said gloatingly: "Among the five surnames and seven sects, the Boling Cui family and the Qinghe Cui family have been separated for a long time, but they are the same family after all, so while they are competing for the first noble clan, they also have the same family.

The energy connects the branches, advancing together and retreating together. But even so, there are differences between the two."

Yang Ji nodded slightly, he still knew the difference between the two Cui families. After the separation of the Boling Cui family and the Qinghe Cui family, the Boling Cui family was surrounded by the Fanyang Lu family, the Zhaojun Li family, the Qinghe Cui family, and the Bohai Gao family.

In the middle of the country, there were many restrictions on their development. The main direction of their advance was Bingzhou in the west. They competed with the weakened Taiyuan Wang family in the northern part of Bingzhou, but they were defeated.

The Lu family, who had a good relationship with the Wang family, attacked their own territory, so the Boling Cui family skipped Hebei and moved to Qingzhou and Yanzhou. And this was the Qinghe Cui family's inherent territory, so the two were in interests

There was a huge dispute over the direction of the request. Therefore, when the reputation of the Bolingcui family was greatly reduced, the Qinghe Cui family's move to devour the Bolingcui family's territory was understandable.

Although they eventually fell into the hands of the Cui family, the Boling Cui family is another sect after all. How can they forgive the Qinghe Cui family for adding insult to injury? And the existing contradictions and rifts between the two Cui families are most likely due to

This struggle for interests has further expanded.

Perhaps, this is the reason why Yang Jian gave the Cui family in Qinghe a big cake.

"But the next competition will not be in Guanzhong or Daxing, but in the world." Gao Jiong added.

"The world?" Yang Ji looked at Gao Jiong in confusion.

"Yeah!" Gao Jiao nodded and said, "The circulation of books in Guanzhong is just a blind move."

"What do you mean by Gao Gong's words?" Yang Ji, as the chief culprit in the circulation of books, didn't know what kind of cover-up he had, and he was even more confused by Gao Jiong's words.

"The circulation of books in Daxing City is to let the world know about the existence and efficacy of movable type printing and ink. Next, the sage will make the real killing move. At that time, even if they burn down the East Market, West Market, and even Daxing City,

It's too late, there's nothing we can do about it." Gao Jiong sneered and looked out the door.

Yang Ji looked at Gao Jiong with dissatisfaction, frowned and said, "What Mr. Gao said is getting more and more mysterious. Can you finish it in one go?"

"The situation of printing books in Daxing is just a cover for the sage. I think the sage's real intention is to spread printing and ink technology to the people through this storm. As long as skilled craftsmen have this theory, they will see

Bamboo paper and papyrus paper books became so popular that they could be made. However, the caravans originally sent to various places could not

He left with a lot of templates." Gao Jiong looked at Yang Ji's expression of surprise gradually with satisfaction, and continued: "I don't need to say more about the value of this book. You should read the grand scene of Daxing Bookstore, King Wei.

When the time comes, when even small workshops can make these things, what does King Wei think is the meaning of the book ban that the aristocratic families are still advocating?"

"The supply of these books exceeds the demand, and the price has not decreased much. Children from aristocratic families can buy them, but most ordinary disciples from poor families do not have the financial resources. It is instinct for businessmen to pursue profit, and due to the lack of sufficient supervision in various places, a large number of people will definitely be able to buy it."

Books enter the market. When the supply of books on the market exceeds

When we ask for it, it will only allow more students from poor families and poor people who are eager to learn to study. And with these prerequisites, it will be a logical thing to restart the Three Studies in various places in the future. This is a

This is a plan that accurately draws out human nature, and the saints are getting more and more slippery in this trick."

"What Mr. Gao said is absolutely true!" Yang Ji felt that Gao Jiong had thought too much about things. It seemed that neither he nor Yang Jian had thought so much, so he could only say: "If we let go of books, it will be really difficult in a short time."

It generates huge profits, but when books become abundant, these huge profits will naturally disappear. After all, things are rare and valuable, and if there are too many of them, they are no longer valuable.”

"That's true." Gao Jiong nodded and said: "The booksellers, shops, and businesses in Daxing City all have a strong political flavor. To put it simply, the business community in Daxing City has become a very obviously privileged class, while the court and officials have changed from the original

The wealth distributor has become a wealth creator. This is relatively unreasonable, but the economic lifeline is controlled by

In the hands of the aristocratic families, there is nothing that can be done about this. Fortunately, after the book has impacted once, other things can be used to impact the world's business in the future. In this way, the role of the aristocratic families will be further reduced. But this will also cause

A powerful business alliance, once these people join forces, they will become a powerful political force."

Yang Ji agrees with this.
Chapter completed!