The key is that after Li Er asked Li Sheng again in disbelief, Li Sheng not only nodded in recognition, but also said something even more outrageous...
The court not only had to allow it.
Moreover, you have to take the initiative to pay and help them!
This shit, Li Er is really pissed off.
A pair of eyes stared at Li Sheng, staring at him, dumbfounded!
He never expected that the eldest prince, whom he was most looking forward to, would actually...
He said such outrageous things!
And this is also the reason why Wei Zheng, Du Ruhui, Fang Xuanling... and others stared at Li Sheng with confusion.
This so-called semicolon...
Aren't they just like warlords who rebelled?
These have become warlords... Not only does the court not care, but it also has to help them?
This is so ridiculous, isn’t it?
Li Er, Wei Zheng, Du Ruhui, Fang Xuanling...
The four most talented and courageous people in the Tang Empire.
At this moment, everyone was stunned!
But then...
Opposite the seat, Li Sheng, with his legs crossed, was picking up wontons one bite at a time, but his face was calm, even... leisurely, smiling.
It seems that this treasonous thing is nothing at all.
Seeing the expressions of these old guys, Li Sheng picked up the special "napkin" in his hand and was about to wipe his mouth, but he gave up after seeing that there were still two wontons in the bowl.
He burped slightly, and then began to explain to Li Er and others...
"Isn't this simple?"
Li Sheng's expression was quite leisurely, "If there are powerful people in China doing this kind of thing, I won't say anything -"
"Is there such a powerful one? I'll report it right away! But... the branch I'm talking about is overseas."
"overseas?"
"overseas……"
When Li Sheng spoke like this, Wei Zheng and others were smart people, so they naturally grasped the key immediately.
Li Sheng's meaning is very obvious, that is, the focus of this matter is not about building private temples and building armies, but "overseas".
The word overseas is the key point!
So...this means, what is the difference between overseas and China?
But Wei Zheng and others thought for a long time, and finally...
It still feels too outrageous. I don’t care if you go overseas or not. It’s outrageous to engage in warlordism. I, Datang, are doing well, so why should I take such risks?
If one day he becomes too big, wouldn't he have to directly counterattack the Tang Dynasty? Isn't this... something going wrong?
Li Er shook his head, with only a wry smile on his face, "Master... this idea is too advanced. Even if it is overseas, it cannot give people a chance to rebel. How can we deal with the war in China?"
Today's situation in the Tang Dynasty is extremely hard-won.
But Li Sheng always kept a calm expression. When he heard what Li Er said, he couldn't help but shook his head and sighed leisurely...
Then he said.
"Lao Li, Lao Wei... you two are still young. The situation is small!"
"ah?"
"grid……"
"You have to know that sailing on the sea is not easy after all. Nowadays, merchants are going to sea one after another. Although a trade tide has formed, it is still not enough after all... In order to complete the great method of attracting stars in the Tang Dynasty, at least a few people are needed to complete it.
Ten years, or even hundreds of years.”
"During this process, you don't really think that... these merchants will be keen on overseas trade for a hundred years, right?"
Li Sheng said this with a half-smile.
Li Er and others were really stunned. What... does this mean?
Does it mean that merchants will not be willing to go to sea in the future?
but……
Li Er lowered his head and thought, that's not right. Nowadays, when merchants go to sea, they don't go to sea because of their bright tongue and to deceive others. It is because it is really profitable to go to sea, and many times it is huge profits.
If Datang’s absorption of global resources—in the form of precious metals—is really interrupted unexpectedly, that is indeed a problem, and merchants’ failure to go overseas can indeed lead to this.
But with huge profits to be made, how come no one goes?
Then Li Sheng stopped being pretentious and took out the practical information.
"The reason is very simple. Datang will become richer day by day, but trade as an industry will one day be saturated... You don't need to know what saturation means."
"But what you need to know is that once the industry is saturated and more and more new people join, the profits will gradually decrease. As time goes by, naturally no more people will join. By that time, once a trend is formed
, I’m afraid not only will no new people join, but even the original old maritime merchants will slowly withdraw!”
"this?!……"
Li Eryi was shocked for a moment. Although he didn't understand the detailed meaning of "saturation", he could still understand Li Sheng's entire words.
And once he understood... Li Er also felt that this plan to attract money would really be interrupted inexplicably!
The expressions of Wei Zheng and others also changed suddenly, as if they were facing a formidable enemy!
Then, Li Sheng continued, "It is precisely for this reason that I say that if there is such a risk in the future, and it is related to the long-term destiny of the Tang Dynasty, of course we must make early plans."
"Since it is about plans for the future, well... this... of course, we need to use past history as a reference. As the saying goes, we can know the gains and losses by using history as a mirror... and the best reference object is naturally the Western Han Dynasty."
"Western Han Dynasty?"
Li Er was stunned for a moment, and he couldn't help but think of many literati's praises of Emperor Gaozu...
The Western Han Dynasty was a very great empire, perhaps even the greatest empire in history.
But what connection does the Western Han Dynasty have with sea trade?
What does it have to do with this weird plan that is tantamount to encouraging the powerful people to rebel...
Li Sheng was smiling all over his face, but what no one noticed was that there was some embarrassment in his smile...
Although he said it was a reference to history, Li Sheng himself knew that it was actually a reference to the future...
The reference object is of course Daying.
However, there are similarities between Britain's global expansion and the Western Han Dynasty, so Li Sheng didn't feel that it was inconsistent to use the Western Han Dynasty as a guise to explain the matter.
The most successful thing about the Western Han Dynasty was that while Liu Bang rebelled against the First Emperor, he also copied Shang Yang's system construction very thiefly and pragmatically, and became more powerful than the First Emperor, and finally succeeded in becoming a better fighter than the First Emperor.
One key point is the important reason why Liu Bang finally established the Western Han Dynasty and the death of Qin II.
That is, although the Western Han Dynasty established a truly complete system of counties and counties, it also retained a part of the feudal system!
This allowed the Western Han Dynasty to inherit everything from the Qin Dynasty and become a stronger Qin Dynasty, taking a step further than the First Emperor - the Western Han Dynasty stood firm.
And at this moment...
Li Sheng only mentioned the Western Han Dynasty and didn't say much more.
But Li Er, Wei Zheng and others... were confused at first, because this ramble was a bit far, but soon... everyone reacted quickly.
Wei Zheng was the first to show horror and looked at Li Sheng in shock.
"This...is a good example of learning from history..."
"Young Master, Mr. Wei will keep this plan in mind... Young Master, please accept Wei's respect again!!!"
