Chapter 316 Secret talks on the Imperial Camp (Part 2)

After being silent for a long time, Zhang Yongde whispered: "I have a way, I don't know if it's appropriate. According to convention, after we quell the Liu Chong rebellion, the local people have to pay taxes to our Great Zhou. Anyway, the imperial soldiers have already robbed them. Your Majesty might as well announce that they will exempt them from their taxes this year, which can be considered as compensation."

Guo Rong nodded slightly, "What does Hu Yi (Zhang Yongde's word) mean? I will issue an order tomorrow to exempt them from the taxes for the next two years, which is also my compensation. However, it is just April, and there is more than a month before the summer harvest. The people have no food left. What should we do?"

"Open the warehouse and release grain!"

“Work-for-relief!”

Zhang Yongde and Dong Zunhui said almost at the same time that "opening warehouses and releasing grain" is a cliché, while Guo Rong is quite new about what Dong Zunhui said, "work-for-relief". He hurriedly signaled Dong Zunhui to continue talking.

Dong Zunhui scratched his hair, "The so-called labor-for-relief means to let the young and strong people do some work within their ability, such as building wooden ladders, digging trenches, transporting grain, building beacon towers, etc., and then obtaining the corresponding food based on the completion volume and quality of the activities. As for the elderly, weak, sick and disabled who have lost their ability to work, they provide a small amount of food that can fill their stomachs."

Guo Rong nodded repeatedly, "This method is good. Compared to simply releasing grain, this method is more beneficial to our Great Zhou. Moreover, we can militarize young and middle-aged people in this process to train their discipline. If... I mean, if the Liao army counterattacks and Fu Yanqing and others cannot resist it, we can also organize the people to evacuate in an orderly manner, so that the Liao army can only get empty land!"

High! It's really high! Dong Zunhui admires Guo Rong very much. No wonder he has made such a big name in history. It turns out that his level is indeed extraordinary! I just copied the common ideas of fiction novels, but they can learn from it and see more benefits from it!

Guo Rong frowned and said, "The things to help the people are done as Daoan said, but there is still a problem now, that is, how to obtain food! The local food is either robbed or sold out. If we want to keep the golden sign of the Benevolent and Righteous Army, we have to transport grain from the outside world. But the consumption of transporting grain is too great. Do you two have any good ideas?"

For a moment, Dong Zunhui and Zhang Yongde could not think of any solution. Dong Zunhui frowned and asked, "Can you pay for high prices from the treasury?"

Guo Wei shook his head and whispered: "You two are royal relatives of our Later Zhou Dynasty, and I won't hide it from you. Liu Chengyou didn't leave much money at all. Although the late emperor worked hard, the army had not rested since the establishment of the Great Zhou Dynasty. It has spent a lot of money on the westward expedition and eastward. Now the summer grain has not been put into warehousing, and the national treasury is extremely empty. Why has the rewards and punishments been issued a few days ago? It was because the national treasury was short of money!"

Zhang Yongde also scratched his head and asked in a low voice: "I have thought of a way, but it will damage Your Majesty's reputation and may leave a bad reputation in history..."

Guo Rong smiled and said, "It doesn't matter if you just say it. As long as you can quell Liu Chong's rebellion (the Later Zhou Dynasty did not recognize the legitimacy of the Northern Han Dynasty), even if you leave a bad reputation, I will be willing!"

Zhang Yongde lowered his voice and said, "Your Majesty can recruit merchants to receive straw and millet. Anyone who can pay 500 hu of corn and 500 hu of grass to the government will give him the identity of a ninth-rank general, and let him be the deputy county magistrate of the Xiapin County; anyone who can pay 100 hu of corn and 100 hu of grass to the government will give him the identity of a ninth-rank Dengshilang and let him become the county magistrate of the Xiapin County. By the same token, I believe that these merchants will do their best to deliver food to the army!"

Guo Rong did not nodded immediately and agreed. He needed to think carefully: How can the country's heavy weapons be granted easily, especially those merchants! This is clearly selling official positions, and since the merchants contributed capital, how could they be willing to lose money?! In the eyes of rulers such as Guo Rong, the status of scholars, farmers, industrialists and commerce must never be changed. If merchants can also become officials, how can Guo Rong be relieved by relying on the financial power they control? Besides, if merchants are allowed to be either parental official, no one knows how they will plunder the local area, but Guo Rong believes that by then, the land will be three feet high and one foot high! At that time, the people will be in trouble, and it may affect the safety of the Great Zhou!

However, as Guo Rong just said, if Liu Chong's rebellion can be successfully quelled, Guo Rong is willing to pay any price. Even if the merchants steal official positions, Guo Rong believes that merchants who are incompatible with the scholars will not be recognized by the mainstream of the officialdom. As long as you spend more time, Guo Rong has the means to make these merchants retire on their own initiative!

Seeing that Guo Rong was a little moved, Dong Zunhui thought it was not good: Merchants paid money and must find a way to make it come back, but the people were still suffering in the end! Guo Rong used this method in history, but the people had already escaped, and no one came to lose the grain and grain! Most of the merchants who were able to lose the grain and grain were in the mainland, and they pointed at them to deliver goods here and exchanged food and grass for official positions. This would be a bit of a poison to quench their thirst!

Dong Zunhui thought about it and suddenly thought of a practice in the Ming Dynasty. Regardless of whether there are any disadvantages or not, it is always much better than selling official positions. He hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, I have just been inspired by Brother Hu's first, so I came up with an idea. I would like to ask Your Majesty and Brother Hu's first to help me think about it."

Guo Rong hurriedly said, "I'm sorry, but I'm not bad!"

Dong Zunhui whispered: "I heard that salt and iron are profitable, so every year many people spend all their money and secretly sell private salt! It is better to encourage these merchants to transport grain here, and then exchange the corresponding salt entries from the court with the actual grain they transported as a share. The amount of salt entries may be greater than the price of this grain. Then the merchants can use the salt to attract the area under the jurisdiction of the court to exchange for salt, and then transport the salt to the designated location of the court to sell for profit! In this way, the court will easily obtain grain without paying money for the time being; merchants can also make profits from it and are willing to implement it."

"Okay!" Guo Rong almost jumped up, "Love is a very clever idea! The cost of salt mining can be almost ignored. The court does not need to pay too much to get food, and merchants can also make profits and share the profits. They should be full of enthusiasm for this. And this also has an advantage. In the future, merchants will definitely calculate the round-trip freight costs. The long-distance food transportation costs are very huge. They are likely to recruit people to reclaim fields at this border to produce food. In this way, merchants will take the initiative to farm at the border and exchange them for salt in exchange for salt intake on the spot, and the border of our Great Zhou will become increasingly consolidated!"

Dong Zunhui was very ashamed: Boss, please don’t always learn from others. This will make me, a modern person, feel inferior!

Zhang Yongde was also very happy. Dong Zunhui's strategy not only solved the current dilemma, but also contributed to the future development of the surrounding borders. How could Zhang Yongde not be happy as a royal relative who is closely related to the Later Zhou Dynasty? Moreover, Dong Zunhui will do things. It was obviously a solution he thought of, but he said that under the inspiration of me, Zhang Yongde, I can also share some of the contributions. Not to mention the amount of the contributions, what is rare is this intention!

After solving a big problem, Guo Rong was very excited and immediately ordered someone to write an edict, and quickly sent it back to Kaifeng Prefecture for the Prime Ministers to sign it, and then immediately convey the spirit of the edict to various parts of the Great Zhou Dynasty. I believe that merchants will seize this opportunity to make money, which is a huge profit!

When everything was handled properly, Guo Rongping retreated and left only Zhang Yongde and Dong Zunhui, and then he whispered: "Just just got the news that Queen Mother Zhaosheng Li died yesterday!"

Zhang Yongde and Dong Zunhui were very surprised. The two of them looked up at each other almost at the same time, then quickly lowered their heads and said in unison: "Please also express your grief!"

Kaifeng Prefecture is less than 900 miles away from Jinyang City. Even if Empress Dowager Li dies, Guo Rong will not be able to get news again, unless everything is directed and acted by Guo Rong! Since Guo Wei ascended the throne, Liu Chengxun, who threatened his throne, soon died inexplicably. Then Liu Yun, who was once elected as emperor, was imprisoned by Guo Wei and could not be released for life. Now that Guo Wei has passed away, Chai Rong ascended the throne, the Later Zhou no longer needs this Empress Dowager Li, so she died too! At this point, the Later Zhou finally eliminated all the legal leaders of the Later Han Dynasty. As long as Liu Chong's Northern Han was eliminated, the Later Han Dynasty could be completely cut off!

Zhang Yongde and Dong Zunhui knew that they could not and should not participate in the matters of the palace. Even though they were the emperor's brother-in-law, they could only lower their heads deeply and dare not say another word.

Guo Rong also realized their difficulties and truly realized the emperor's suffering. If he became an emperor, he would be called a lonely person. No matter how intimate his friends were, no one could become the emperor's true friends!

Guo Rong sighed and said in a deep voice: "Not long ago, I have ordered people to give the posthumous title to the late emperor, "Sacred and Summit Emperor Wen and Wu Xiaodi Emperor", and the temple name is Gaozu. Today I received a report from "Changle Lao" (Feng Dao once wrote "Changle Lao's Self-Discussion". Feng Dao was a veteran of several dynasties and was Dong Zunhui's uncle. Guo Rong used this place to respect him), saying that he had already built the tomb of Emperor Gaozu and was named Chongling. Feng Dao hoped that I would choose a time to bury Emperor Gaozu.

I have issued an edict today and ordered the Imperial Heavenly Prison to carefully choose the days, but the war is busy, so I cannot go to worship. The late emperor has spirits in heaven. As long as I can control everyone to quell Liu Chong's rebellion, I don't think we will blame us! You two are my royal relatives of the Great Zhou Dynasty. On the day I return to the army, you two can worship with me!"

Zhang Yongde and Dong Zunhui quickly agreed and followed the emperor to worship the former emperor. This was also a rare favor, which showed the new emperor's importance to him, and the two of them had no reason not to agree.

The monarch and ministers discussed for a while, and the monarch and ministers complemented each other. It was not until late at night that Zhang Yongde and Dong Zunhui said goodbye and left.

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Chapter completed!