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Text Chapter 716: The Battle for Mingde Hall (Part 2)

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    "Oh? I wonder what Mr. Li has to say?" When Changsun Wuji saw that the person speaking was Li Jingheng, he did not show any surprise. The Jiangxia Palace's industries are spread all over the Tang Dynasty and Daqi. If heavy taxes are levied on some commercially developed areas,  , Li Jingheng and others naturally suffered great losses, so Changsun Wuji expected the other party's opposition.

    Changsun Wuji had great power in the Tang Dynasty, but Li Jingheng was not afraid of him at all. Even though he was only a fourth-grade minister, behind him stood the entire industrial and commercial class of the Tang Dynasty. In addition, he and Li Min  Even if he couldn't compete with Changsun Wuji in terms of his personal relationship, he could just pat his ass and immigrate to Daqi.

    I saw Li Jingheng glance at Changsun Wuji indifferently, and then said: "I can't talk about high opinions, but the official believes that the reason why industry and commerce continues to develop is mainly because industry and commerce has broader prospects, so  It continues to attract a large amount of manpower and material resources to invest in it. Now the court hastily imposed heavy taxes, which will not only discourage the development of industrial and commercial owners, but also cause a huge blow to the existing industry and commerce, so it is really not advisable!"

    Li Jingheng was very aware of Changsun Wuji's little thoughts. It was simply that Changsun's family owned a large amount of land in Jiangnan and other places. Now that the farmers had gone to work and do business, his family's fields were uncultivated. It would be unfair to use slaves.  Because of the reputation of scholars, it is natural to suppress business.  And it is worth mentioning that the Changsun family does not want to get involved in handicraft business, but in the industrial and commercial industry, the industries with large profits have been divided up by others, and they look down on small profits. Therefore, Changsun Wuji now proposes to suppress industry and commerce.  There is probably an element of jealousy in it.

    "Li Shilang is still too young. According to you, are we going to allow industry and commerce to continue to develop like this, leaving no one to plant farmland? I'm afraid that industry and commerce will also become rootless water, and we won't even be able to eat food, let alone development?"  Changsun Wuji said calmly, with a hint of strength in his tone. At the same time, his words implied that Li Jingheng was too young and had very short-sightedness.

    "Master Changsun is old, but I didn't expect that he is still so anxious. I naturally have something to say about how to solve the problem of agricultural employment!" Li Jingheng also retorted unceremoniously.  Since Changsun Wuji made up his mind to suppress Shang.  It is equivalent to Li Jingheng's enemy, and he no longer has to worry about offending the other party in his words.

    "Hahaha~, you are indeed a formidable young man. I wonder what else Li Shilang has to say?" Although Changsun Wuji used laughter to cover up his anger, his tone after that.  But it already had a formidable aura.

    "It seems that Mr. Changsun is really forgetful. Last year, an article was published in Datang Daily. It also analyzed the employment dispute between industry, commerce and agriculture. At the end, the article pointed out that if Datang wanted to solve this problem, it could ask Datang Daily to solve the problem.  They studied together and changed the current agricultural structure. Encourage the establishment of large plantations like Daqi. The advantage of this is that the unified management of crops can save a lot of manpower and material resources, and some simple manual labor can also be performed by slaves. At that time, this  This article still caused great controversy in the court, but because of Lord Changsun's strong opposition, the matter was finally settled."

    Li Jingheng said tit for tat again.  His father, Li Daozong, had different political views with Changsun Wuji and Chu Suiliang, and they had been suppressed by each other in recent years.  Moreover, the Prince of Jiangxia belongs to the royal family, and Changsun Wuji is a relative. The two groups of people cannot urinate in the same pot. They did not see Li Daozong and Li Xiaogong laughing so happily in the crowd. It seems that they also really want to see Changsun Wuji.  He suffered in the hands of the younger members of his own family.

    "Hmph, our Tang Dynasty ruled the world with benevolence and filial piety. Many industrial and commercial owners used a large number of slaves, but they brutally exploited the slaves, which made the slaves miserable. Many slaves rose up to resist. For example, the coal mine slave uprising in Taiyuan the year before last year, if it weren't for the army,  If we arrive in time, the consequences will be disastrous. Therefore, slaves have become the biggest factor of instability in our Datang. What our Datang needs now is to limit the number of slaves, and we must not introduce slaves in large quantities!" Changsun Wuji said with an aggressive look.

    ¡°Wherever there is oppression, there is resistance.  When Li Min was using slaves extensively, he had already paid attention to improving the living conditions of slaves. This would not only avoid the losses caused by the death of slaves, but also reduce the resistance of some slaves.

    However, after Li Min left the Tang Dynasty, some businesses cut costs infinitely in order to pursue greater profits. Slaves were also considered one of the costs, so they were brutally squeezed. This made many slaves resentful of their owners.  When this resentment accumulates to a certain level, serious conflicts will naturally break out.

    The most serious one was in Taiyuan the year before last. It was the most important coal producing area in the Tang Dynasty. All slave miners were used. In order to expand profits, many mine owners, regardless of the life and death of slaves, forced slaves to dig in dangerous mines.  , slaves died tragically almost every day, so one day, the slaves in a mine finally launched a riot, andThey also successfully occupied the mines, which later triggered a slave uprising in more than a dozen surrounding mines. They even planned to attack Taiyuan. Fortunately, the army arrived and wiped them out.

    The impact of this incident was great. Not only were the owners of more than a dozen mines severely punished, but the Carboniferous Industry Association was also fined a huge sum of money due to poor supervision, and had to bear the military expenses of the army. Afterwards, the Carboniferous Industry Association  Several stewards were dismissed, and at the same time, the association began to improve the conditions of the mine to avoid such things from happening again in the future.

    Changsun Wuji now told the story of the slave uprising, which immediately aroused the support of many people, such as his die-hard Chu Suiliang, and some old scholars headed by Yu Zhining. Although they were not Changsun Wuji's people, they  He also believed that the use of slaves was against the way of a saint, and he hated industry and commerce, so he naturally sided with Changsun Wuji at this time.

    "Don't stop eating because of choking!" Just as Changsun Wuji's party was gaining momentum, an old voice suddenly said.  As soon as this voice came out, everyone in the court immediately fell silent. At the same time, everyone looked at the old man who spoke. This man was Li Xiaogong, whose status was only lower than Changsun Wuji.

    Since Li Jing's death, only Li Xiaogong has been in charge of the entire military academy, and his influence has spread throughout the military circles of the Tang Dynasty. In addition, Li Xiaogong does not have a military position, and his status is high, so he also has the power to participate in political affairs, but he has always been in the court.  He keeps his temper very calmly and rarely expresses his opinions on political affairs. I didn't expect that he would express his opinions directly today.

    "Oh? Please make it clear to the Prince of Hejian County!" Changsun Wuji stared at Li Xiaogong with his narrow eyes, his heart full of fear. Since the death of Fang Xuanling and Li Jing, the only people in the entire court who can openly compete with him are  Li Xiaogong is the only one, but Li Xiaogong is a member of the royal family and has military achievements. In order to avoid suspicion, he has never interfered in the affairs of the court. Now that the other party speaks at this time, it is a very abnormal signal. When thinking about it,  Li Min's arrival made Changsun Wuji even more upset.

    I saw Li Xiaogong open his slightly closed eyes, and then glanced at the ministers in the court. The power of a veteran on the battlefield exuded, causing other whisperers to shut up immediately. Finally, his eyes were fixed on Changsun Wu.  Ji opened his mouth and said: "I am old and don't know much about government affairs, but I also know a truth, that is, everything has advantages and disadvantages. Although there are many shortcomings in the use of slaves, it also brings  To bring greater convenience, so what we have to do now is to try to use slaves more rationally and avoid the negative effects of slave use, rather than restrict the use of slaves!"

    Although Li Xiaogong didn't speak easily, this time he spoke directly and sharply, directly refuting Changsun Wuji's previous words. This shocked Li Jingheng and others, and they also began to refute Changsun Wuji's remarks, pointing out that what happened to slaves  After the uprising, the industrial and commercial circles of the Tang Dynasty began to pay attention to improving the living conditions of slaves. At least in the past two years, there have been no large-scale slave rebellions.

    In addition, Li Jingheng also cited Daqi as an example, listing that the number of slaves used in Daqi was several times that of the Tang Dynasty. However, there were very few slave rebellions in Daqi. The main reason was that Daqi officials regulated the use of slaves in various industries.  , and Da Qi¡¯s treasury revenue has far exceeded that of Datang.  It can be seen that slaves are not a destabilizing factor in society, but are also one of the driving forces for economic development.

    Although the example of Da Qi cited by Li Jingheng and others is very convincing, whether it is Changsun Wuji or Yu Zhining, they are not so easy to persuade, not to mention that some of them do not understand the key, but  It involves a struggle for interests, so they pretend not to understand and instead come up with all kinds of specious excuses to refute.

    In the era of the Tang Dynasty, the emperor and his ministers were not as hierarchical as in later generations. For example, when the emperor discussed matters with his ministers, the ministers also had seats, so the relationship between the ministers and the emperor was more like that of the boss and his subordinates in a company. Although the company boss has  He has the power to order his subordinates, but the subordinates also have the power to choose the company. When they are not happy with their work, the worst they can do is just slap them on the back and leave. Unless the other party has committed a crime, the company boss will not be able to do anything to him.

    It is for this reason that this kind of scene often occurs in the Tang Dynasty. The agricultural faction headed by Changsun Wuji and Yu Zhining quarrel with the industrial and commercial faction headed by Li Xiaogong and Li Jingheng. No one wants to obey the other.  Among them, Zhang Sun Wuji's party has a large number of people, but most of them are older.  Li Jingheng's side was mostly young officials with more open minds, and they were all promoted intentionally by Li Shimin over the years. They were not inferior to anyone in terms of momentum, and they were even more powerful when they quarreled.

    After Li Xiaogong supported Li Jingheng for a while, he stopped talking and watched others quarreling with a smile.  On the contrary, Li Zhi next to him repeatedly spoke out to comfort the two quarreling groups, but unfortunately he was not Li Shimin, and he did not have the prestige to convince the ministers, so it was of no use at all.

    ? ??While Li Zhi was watching the commotion in the court hall and sweating anxiously, he suddenly heard a joking voice outside the main hall door: "Huh? When did the Mingde Hall in the East Palace become a vegetable market?"  Now, will my ninth brother also go into business?"
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