Seeing Wei Ba's slightly weird smile, Xia Houxuan was very surprised. "What bad idea are you thinking about?"
Wei Ba glared at him: "Can you please stop thinking about me so much? Is it so fulfilling to belittle your own brother-in-law?"
Xia Houxuan snorted.
Wei Ba put on a smile and pulled Xia Houxuan towards the carriage. "Taichu, I have something to trouble you."
"What's up?"
"Write a reply for me. Your pen is good and your chapter is beautiful." Wei Ba said with a smile: "Of course, that is also to let you know what I really think, so as not to worry you every day, fearing that I will go to Guanzhong and your emperor
Your Majesty did the right thing."
Xia Houxuan smiled awkwardly. He knew that Wei Ba knew his purpose, but he didn't reveal it. This was to give him face and to give Xia Houhui face.
"There is another thing." Wei Ba continued: "I want to open a school in Jiaozhou and invite those Confucian scholars to teach the students. I can't talk to these Confucian scholars. I need a celebrity like you to come forward."
Xia Houxuan asked in surprise: "Who do you want to invite? Shi Kuang can't even come forward?"
"I can't leave everything to Shi Kuang, right?" Wei Ba winked. Xia Houxuan understood, but smiled: "I'm not your confidant, can you trust me?"
"I can trust Yuanrong." Wei Ba pointed to the sky. "I also believe in justice. Justice is in the heart of the people. After all, ungrateful white-eyed wolves are rare. Don't you think so?"
…
After understanding the situation in Guanzhong, Wei Ba adjusted his strategy. According to Zhuge Liang's strategic plan, the Battle of Guanzhong must be a protracted war. A stalemate between the two sides may be the best situation. It is more likely that Shu will suffer a setback.
He must maintain the ability to support Guanzhong at any time. In this case, he can no longer be entangled with Sun Quan, lest he will be unable to get out when the time comes.
Wei Ba decided to use defense as offense, seize the time to digest the newly acquired territory, and not go deep into the hinterland of Jingzhou for the time being. He ordered Jin Dongliu to guard the strict pass, and asked his prime minister to guard Guishan, not to provoke easily, and to maintain peace with the Wu army.
After that, he began to manage Jiaozhou.
First, he asked Shi Kuang to convene the big families in Cangwu, Hepu, Gaoliang, and Yulin counties to gather in Guangxin to discuss the development strategy of Jiaozhou. Jiaozhou has always been characterized by its vast land and sparse people, but the people here refer to
The registered Han people do not include barbarians. The barbarians live in the mountains and only have symbolic exchanges every year.
They do not bear taxes - at least officially, their biggest burden is military service. In addition, there are many pearls in Jiaozhou, and pearl fishing is also a heavy burden for the fishermen who live near the sea. They have worked hard to
But no benefit could be obtained from it, and the benefits were all taken away by the officials.
The officials are from outside, but the officials are from the local rich. They join forces to exploit the people, which can easily arouse rebellion. Why does corruption easily arouse the people's resistance? The mountains here are high and the forests are dense. If you hide in the mountains, no one will be able to find you.
arrive.
However, hiding in the mountains is not a good thing. Life in the mountains is difficult and transportation is inconvenient. Most people are not willing to live in the mountains. If it is not possible to survive, no one is willing to stay in the mountains. If you want to attract people from the mountains, just
Make them feel that life outside is safe
They need to feel full and have a sense of happiness. On the one hand, their various burdens must be reduced, and on the other hand, their income must be increased. Only in this way will they be willing to register as a household registered citizen. The more people with household registration, the more people can provide
A stable source of tax revenue can create strong strength.
To achieve this, Wei Ba first had to make deals with the wealthy families in Jiaozhou to prevent them from oppressing ordinary people in the name of the government and transferring the taxes they should pay to ordinary people.
On the one hand, the heavy taxes come from the government's exploitation, and on the other hand, they also come from the wealthy local families who collude with the government. They transfer their taxes to ordinary people. For the vast majority of the people, this is actually harmful. It is greater than profit. Those who cannot bear the taxes will flee and become homeless people who cannot borrow money. The fewer households there are, the fewer objects they can transfer to, and the heavier the burden that others bear. However, the big family is doing it for its own benefit. , drinking poison to quench thirst, no one is willing to take advantage of it, so it is easy to form a vicious circle.
Before attracting more mountain people to come out of the mountain, Wei Ba had to negotiate good terms with these people, not only to ensure that they would not transfer their responsibilities, but also to avoid harming the vested interests of these wealthy families.
While negotiating, Wei Ba sent Xia Houxuan to bring gifts to invite Liu Xi. When the war in the Central Plains was turbulent, Jiaozhou was a rare peaceful place. Even though many people went back after the situation in the Central Plains eased, they still Some people stayed, including the great scholar Liu Xi.
Liu Xi is from Beihai and is over seventy years old. During the Jian'an period, he avoided chaos in Jiaozhou and never left. He stayed in Jiaozhou with peace of mind to study and teach apprentices. He stayed here for more than thirty years. He was proficient in primary school and had passed the According to "Mencius", there were many students who were officials in the state of Wu, and they had a good relationship with Shixie. Because of these relationships, he lived a very comfortable life, and generally no one would take the initiative to harass him.
Wei Ba sent Xia Houxuan to invite Liu Xi, also to take care of Liu Xi's face. Scholars always want face. Although he is proficient in heaven and geography, and his mechanical skills are said to be unrivaled in the world, he knows nothing about Confucian classics. If he communicated with Liu Xi, he would probably We can't talk about going together. Xia Houxuan is very knowledgeable and must be more suitable than him.
That's what he thought, but unfortunately the reality was not what he wanted. Xia Houxuan went to invite Liu Xi, and it started well. The two had a great conversation. Unfortunately, when they talked about knowledge, the contradiction between the two immediately became apparent. Wei is now popular His knowledge was mainly based on ancient classics, while Liu Xi's knowledge was mainly based on modern classics. Modern classics and ancient classics had a fierce conflict that lasted for hundreds of years, and they often decided to win or lose when they met. Liu Xi Seeing Xia Houxuan, it was like a warrior who had been lonely for a long time and met a worthy opponent. The battle suddenly escalated. I argued with Xia Houxuan for two days and finally broke up unhappy.
Xia Houxuan returned in defeat again. Faced with Wei Ba's gaze, he was very embarrassed and explained a few sentences. Wei Ba understood where their differences were and couldn't help but smile bitterly. The academic disputes today are compared to the academician disputes in later generations. Even more powerful. Because these people really regard their knowledge as a belief, not just a means of making a living.
"Then I'll go by myself. It seems like you can't count on me. The more you help me, the more chaos I'll get." Wei Ba said with a bitter smile.
Xia Houxuan shrugged and felt speechless.
After making some preparations, Wei Ba brought gifts and came to the thatched cottage where Liu Xi was again. Seeing Xia Houxuan, Liu Xi was still eager to try. Wei Ba quickly stepped forward to salute and reported his identity.
"Are you Wei Ba, the legendary general who is so miraculous?" Liu Xi looked Wei Ba up and down with his eyes. Although Liu Xi was proficient in modern classics, he did not like internal studies such as prophecy and he was very dissatisfied with pretending to be gods and ghosts. Disgusted.
"This guy is none other than Wei Ba. I don't want to be a god general. I'm just trying to boost morale."
Liu Xi snorted. His face softened a little, and he was very satisfied with Wei Ba's attitude. "Then what are you doing here today?"
Wei Ba said respectfully: "Although I am a warrior with little knowledge, I am determined to educate, and I want to invite you to come out and serve as the grand sacrificial wine of Jiaozhou Academy, educate the people, and turn barbarians into flowers."
Liu Xi's eyes lit up and he nodded. "I admire the general's kindness very much, but I'm old and have limited energy. I'm afraid I won't be able to teach a few students, which will delay my own studies. The general should hire someone else."
"
Wei Ba turned around, waved to a soldier, and took out a box. Two handfuls were delivered to Liu Xi. Liu Xi looked at him in surprise, opened the box, and found a thin book inside. He
He picked it up, looked through it, and frowned.
"This is the knowledge of Song Zhong in Jingzhou."
"Sir, you really have a keen eye." Wei Ba complimented: "This is a teaching material used by my family to enlighten young children. It is very popular in Chengdu now."
"Misleading students." Liu Xi said disdainfully: "Song Zhong is the most famous, but his knowledge is rough. Using such knowledge to teach students will probably bring disaster." Liu Xi pondered for a moment, and then said: "You are
You said this book is popular in Chengdu?"
Wei Ba nodded: "Yes, almost everyone."
"One person per person? How is that possible? This book is light in size, and the writing is clear and neat. It must be expensive. One person per person is a big price to pay."
Wei Ba took the book, flipped through it, and laughed silently. "Sir, I misunderstood. Although this book is not cheap, it is not too expensive either. My Wei Family Bookstore can sell three hundred yuan a day, which is more than enough to supply the entire Chengdu. I
Preparing for
Jiaozhou was doing the same thing, and heard that the master was very knowledgeable, so he boldly came to invite him. If the master refused to come out, then the boy would have to use these knowledge to educate the barbarians. It's a pity that they are not lucky enough to learn the best knowledge."
Liu Xi hesitated. If, as Wei Ba said, three hundred books like this could be published a day, then it goes without saying that Jiaozhou would be flooded with such books in a very short time. The knowledge that many people come into contact with for the first time is
Such knowledge, and the knowledge he insists on will soon decline and become
The knowledge of a few people is very detrimental to the spread of knowledge. But if he accepts Wei Ba's invitation and enters Jiaozhou Academy to make a big sacrifice, he can spread his knowledge. This is a rare and good opportunity. Give up this
Opportunities are tantamount to giving up one's own responsibilities.
Seeing Liu Xi's hesitation, Wei Ba added: "Sir, I have studied Mencius carefully. I wonder if you can help me answer my questions?"
"Have you also read Mencius?"
Wei Ba shook his head: "I am busy with military affairs and read very little. However, I heard that Mencius's thoughts are people-centered, which is very different from Confucius and Xunzi's thoughts. I just don't know where the difference lies. Nowadays, although I, a big Han, say that I use Confucianism to govern the country
, but I have never heard of using Mencius’ ideas to govern the country. What is the purpose of this? Is Mencius’s ideas wrong, or is there something wrong with it?”
After listening to Wei Ba's words, Liu Xi suddenly felt a little dazed. He pondered for a long time and said with a wry smile: "Where is Mencius's thinking wrong? If it is wrong, it is just because it is not to the appetite of those monarchs. In the eyes of the monarchs, Mencius is the rebellion of a saint.
"
Wei Ba asked in surprise: "Where do you start talking about this? Isn't Mencius a sub-sage? How did he become a rebel?"
Liu Xi frowned. "Ya Sheng, which saint king gave this title to Mencius?"
Wei Ba was greatly embarrassed. In his mind, Mencius and Confucius were tied together, known as Confucius and Mencius. Confucius was the most sage teacher of Dacheng, and Mencius was the lesser sage. This was almost like common sense. He said it casually. But he didn't expect this.
There was no such statement in the era, and it was a joke for a while, which was a bit embarrassing. However, he then said calmly: "I think Confucius is the supreme sage, and Mencius is naturally the lesser sage. Putting the people first is the true principle of governing a country."