Chapter 7155 Compassion

Chapter 7155 Compassion
Liu Tong, who was lounging in the inner court waiting for everyone to arrive before going to court, noticed that most of the civil and military officials had arrived. When he was about to go to court, he found that the seat next to Prime Minister Chen Xi was empty. He immediately glanced around and found that Jia Xu was not there.

"What's wrong with Jia Wenhe? You're here, why isn't Jia Wenhe here?" Liu Tong asked Chen Xi with a puzzled tone. In Liu Tong's memory, only Chen Xi was always late or left early. Jia Xu seemed lazy, but he was generally able to show up on time for work.

Among Liu Bei's ministers, Liu Tong was most pleased with Jia Xu and was most familiar with him. It should be noted that when Liu Tong ascended the throne, Jia Xu and Chen Xi went together. In fact, the two had known each other for many years.

"I don't know what's going on either," Chen Xi sighed. He vaguely guessed that Jia Xu was trying to extort money from him, but he couldn't say it out loud.

"Then I'll ask Si Niang." Liu Tong's tone was tinged with disdain, completely conveying the contempt that a prime minister like you wouldn't even know such a thing, yet you dare to challenge the prime minister.

"Si Niang, check on Jia Sikong's situation," Liu Tong called out to Si Niang.

Si Niang began to calculate and quickly came to the answer: "Jia Sikong is unwell, it seems to be because Marquis Chen wanted to break his leg last night."

"..." Liu Tong was somewhat speechless upon hearing this. What did he mean by Chen Xi wanting to break Jia Xu's legs? That was too exaggerated. The Prime Minister and Minister of Works were just appointed yesterday, and then the Prime Minister broke the Minister of Works' legs that night. What kind of grudge was that?

"Forget it, let's just leave it at that. We'll just report that the Minister of Works is unwell. Let's go to court." Liu Tong thought for a moment, not really wanting to investigate what Jia Xu and Chen Xi were up to again. He stood up and called to Si Niang, "The court meeting is the important thing. Let's finish it early so that the people can rest assured."

After Liu Tong arrived, the slightly noisy outer court quickly quieted down. Then, the Imperial Censor Li You stood up and reported the number of attendees, how many were present and how many were absent. Originally, this matter should have been handled by the Ministry of Personnel, but Chen Xi himself did not want to do the work, so it had been handed over to the Imperial Censorate a long time ago.

In addition, the Imperial Censor himself had the duty to supervise all officials, so during such grand court assemblies, it was usually Li You who was in charge of compiling statistics.

"Sikong is not feeling well." Liu Tong nodded after hearing this, then asked Jia Xu, but didn't ask about the others who hadn't come. They were all small fry anyway, so their presence or absence wouldn't make much difference.

However, upon closer reflection, Jia Xu's duties were pretty much covered yesterday. Although he was the Minister of Works, his actual responsibilities were not significant. While the Minister of Works did have the power of oversight, if Jia Xu didn't perform this function, Li You's position as Imperial Censor would have been more suitable, so it could be delegated to Li You.

Similarly, the issues of household registration, land, and taxes were handled by Li You, while Chen Xi handled the latter quite well, with Jia Xu only needing to assist. As for matters such as education and etiquette, these could be largely resolved by his subordinate, the Grand Master of Ceremonies.

Therefore, if we're really talking about it, Jia Xu has a lot of work to do if he wants to, but if he doesn't want to work, he can delegate his work to others. However, to be honest, Jia Xu is still a decent person and has some sense of shame. Before becoming Minister of Works, he was already dealing with matters related to population and land. Although Chen Xi was in charge of taxation, Jia Xu still managed to keep the animal husbandry in the northern frontier as organized as possible.

In other words, even if you're slacking off, you still have to do the work.

"Alright, let's begin." After Liu Tong nodded and took his seat, he nodded in the direction of Zhuge Liang and then gave the order.

Zhuge Liang took a deep breath, stood up, and began to explain the third five-year plan. Although the officials present had heard on their way here that Zhuge Liang was going to take over Chen Xi's work and had long been aware of this fact, the expressions of the major families still became much more solemn when Zhuge Liang actually stood up.

The Minister of the Imperial Secretariat, who is not yet thirty years old, is not too much of an exaggeration, given Chen Xi's outstanding achievements. However, Chen Xi gained everyone's recognition through one victory after another. Zhuge Liang, on the other hand, does not have as many political achievements. Although he has done a good job, it is impossible for everyone present not to have doubts about whether Zhuge Liang can succeed Chen Xi.

"The core of the Three-Five Plan lies in raising salaries, improving road and logistics transportation, verifying troop deployment, developing local small-scale industries, mechanizing primary agriculture, expanding the scale of animal husbandry from grass-fed to grain-fed, expanding the scale of technical education, and increasing the promotion of certain improved varieties of vegetables and fruits." Zhuge Liang looked at everyone present without any fear. He had been waiting for this day for a long time and slowly began to explain the framework and goals of the Three-Five Plan.

This stage is very different from when Chen Xi was telling the story. When Chen Xi was telling the story, very few people would not ask questions. Even if they didn't understand something, they would listen first and then discuss it. After all, Chen Xi had completely won over these people over the years. If they didn't understand, it was definitely not Chen Hou's problem, it must be that we were too stupid, so we would ask questions after listening.

However, Zhuge Liang clearly does not yet have such a suppressive ability. From the moment he proposed the salary increase, many people were eager to ask questions, but Zhuge Liang did not stop, and these people could not interrupt Zhuge Liang's explanation at this time.

After Zhuge Liang finished explaining the first part, the various powerful families naturally began to ask questions, and even Liu Tong, who was sitting at the head of the table, began to think.

"Lord Chen, I have a question for you," Liu Tong said to Chen Xi telepathically after thinking for a while.

"What's the question?" Chen Xi turned to look at Zhuge Jin, who was the first to stand up and ask. This was also a way of helping Zhuge Liang to block the more pointed questions. If his older brother asked the questions, at least the words wouldn't be too harsh.

"The core of the 'Three-Five' policy is actually salary increase, right?" Liu Tong asked leisurely. "As for what was mentioned later, it was all just to make the salary increase more reasonable."

"Yes, after understanding all that, Your Highness's perspective on these things is indeed very accurate," Chen Xi replied. Apart from the first sentence about raising salaries, everything else was actually just to support the idea of ​​a salary increase.

"I knew it. Some things are simple once you understand them, but if you don't understand them, you'll never figure them out in your entire life," Liu Tong said with a touch of emotion.

“There’s nothing I can’t figure out, but I just don’t think about it that way. You have to understand that in normal logic, workers and consumers should completely overlap. The work process means the production process, which also means making money. Then the consumption process means buying products, which also means spending money. When these two ends are completely aligned, the whole system can function.” Chen Xi said with a hint of sarcasm.

When even this simplest system can't function, then you need to consider where the things you produce in your employment process actually go, and whether the wages you earn are enough to buy the corresponding consumer goods.

The saying "Those adorned in silk robes are not the ones who raise silkworms" is not only applicable to ancient times, but also holds true in many ways today.

"If it's to be completely equal, new problems will arise, right? After all, there are taxes and fees involved," Liu Tong asked thoughtfully.

"Actually, it can be completely balanced. Taxes and fees are considered from the overall framework of the country, so they can be completely balanced. Essentially, taxes and fees are something where someone pays taxes and someone uses those taxes and fees." Chen Xi said very calmly. "In a better scenario, these taxes and fees are taken from the people and used for the people. In a less desirable scenario, Your Highness knows that."

"So the basic logic behind raising salaries is to make those things affordable for ordinary people?" Liu Tong said thoughtfully, not caring about Chen Xi's previous statement, which was actually referring to his own father.

To reiterate, Liu Tong knew that Emperor Ling of Han had done many despicable things and that her father was no good. But even if her father was no good, the officials in the court couldn't pin all the blame on him. If it were a 30/70 split, Liu Tong could accept it. The reason she couldn't accept it now was because initially, all the blame was on her father.

This made Liu Tong very unhappy. If Chen Xi had given such a neutral and objective evaluation from the beginning, Liu Tong wouldn't have said anything. After all, she knew what kind of bastard her father had done.

But with all these powerful families bullying people to this extent, and my father taking all the blame, it would be a miracle if I didn't overcorrect when I was finally able to handle things myself.

"That's about it." Chen Xi nodded. "Actually, the biggest problem at this stage is still road construction. Only when the roads are built can some things truly realize their value."

At the same time, Zhuge Jin stood up and asked the first question. To be honest, this was because the others were giving Zhuge Liang face. After all, Zhuge Liang was already the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat, and given Chen Xi's situation, Zhuge Liang would be the person in charge in the future. So no matter how much they had doubts, they still had to give him the face he deserved.

"I want to know, how exactly is this so-called salary increase implemented? Is it just a direct handout of money to the people?" Zhuge Jin went straight to the heart of the matter. From the moment he heard the words "salary increase," he felt like ants were crawling all over him. When had the Han Dynasty ever given out such glittering copper coins directly to the people? Had they gone mad?!
"It's not about directly handing out money. Starting from the eleventh year of Yuanfeng, we will increase investment in relevant industries and government agencies, recalculate the wage system, and forcefully promote relevant local industries to ensure wage increases." Zhuge Liang said something rather vague, but everyone present could roughly understand what he meant.

"We can understand the industry situation after the past ten years, but how will the money be distributed?" Zhuge Jin completely ignored everything else and only asked this question. "Money doesn't appear out of thin air. Even if we want to raise salaries, where will the money come from and how will it be distributed? These are all problems."

Chen Xi glanced at Zhuge Jin and found that this guy was indeed quite sensitive in this regard, actually asking questions like "Where does the money come from?"

"The Chang'an Money Exchange will allocate a special fund of 100 billion coins in the eleventh year of Yuanfeng," Zhuge Liang replied after pretending to flip through the documents.

When Chen Qun and Xun You heard this, they exchanged a glance and felt that Liu Ba's death was truly unjust. It seemed that Liu Ba only had a shortfall of less than 30 billion, but Chen Xi disagreed, and Liu Ba died just like that. But now, Chen Xi expressionlessly withdrew 100 billion to allocate funds for the relevant plan.

This is a government grant, in cash. Even if it's in installments, it's still 100 billion. Damn, before the Han Dynasty, it was questionable whether the annual tax revenue was even one-tenth of that. And the thing is, this is just the grant for one project in the Three-Five Plan. Okay, you're really amazing.

After Zhuge Liang uttered these words, the entire hall fell silent. None of the court officials knew how to respond, because the scale of the money was indeed absurd. Even those who had actually seen money were at a loss for words upon hearing its magnitude.

Even Liu Bei, Li You, and others who knew about the plan from the beginning fell silent when they learned that the special allocation for the plan was as high as 100 billion. So, you really don't care about money? This is 100 billion! All the officials in the court are tied up, and even including their families, that's all you have. And then you just throw all of that away?
"No, Zichuan, you allocated 100 billion as project funding, why didn't you give me more New Year's money? This year you only gave me two red envelopes!" Liu Tong's shrill voice was already echoing in Chen Xi's mind.

"You know it yourself. You've learned some economics, so you know why," Chen Xi said irritably. Before, when Liu Tong didn't understand these things, Chen Xi might have tried to comfort her, but now it was better to let it go. The other party understood to some extent. Shouting for New Year's money was purely because she was greedy for money. Chen Xi didn't know what was wrong with the princess surnamed Liu. Like Western dragons, she liked all these golden and shiny things. He should have given Liu Tong a truckload of diamonds.

"Tch." Liu Tong scoffed dismissively.

"This special investment of 100 billion will be invested in local small industrial systems over the years. Taking Bingzhou as an example, Bingzhou will increase its investment in local coal mines, smelting, and small machinery processing industries." Seeing that the others had shut up, Zhuge Liang continued his explanation.

"Should smelting be decentralized to the local level?" Yuan Sui asked with a hint of seriousness. "Isn't that a bit inappropriate? Since Emperor Wu, salt and iron have been monopolies. While there are certainly inconveniences, at least it's safer."

Having experienced the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the major clans were still wary of local people acquiring smelting capabilities. Back then, the Yellow Turbans were able to snowball their power simply by cutting down trees for weapons and raising bamboo poles as flags. If the Smelting Bureau were to be decentralized to the local areas, the strength of the local counties would increase dramatically. If they encountered ambitious individuals, these clans would suffer greatly.

"The demand for steel from ordinary people is constantly increasing, and agricultural production itself also requires a large amount of steel. All of this relies on state-owned factories and mines for production. On the one hand, there are costs, and on the other hand, there are logistics issues. Considering the distribution problem, local areas can obtain steel locally to further reduce costs. Therefore, after official registration, local construction is permitted," Zhuge Liang explained simply.

Zhuge Liang had asked Chen Xi about this issue from the central government's perspective before. After all, if they could produce sickles, they could certainly produce broadswords. Once the smelting bureau was established in various regions, the strength of the local counties would inevitably increase dramatically. However, Chen Xi clearly told Zhuge Liang that considering things like the dramatic increase in the strength of local counties was meaningless. The local counties were now many times stronger than before, but they were still more stable. To stabilize the internal situation, they relied not on military force, but on the hearts and minds of the people.

If people are starving, cold, and unable to survive, even if all weapons are banned, they will still rebel. But if life is good, normal people will only go for their wives, children, and warm beds. In internal management, violence is only used to maintain basic order; the hearts of the people are the foundation of long-term stability.

Zhuge Liang thought about it and agreed that it was indeed the case, so he accepted Chen Xi's statement.

"What if there's unrest in the area?" Yuan Sui asked this disrespectful question directly in the court. After all, he was almost eighty years old. At worst, he would be thrown out. What was there to be afraid of?

"Even without weapons, unrest will occur if there is any, let alone the Yuan family should know very well what the people are seeking," Zhuge Liang said to Yuan Sui in a very formal manner.

"Whether the cause of the turmoil in the world is the collapse or disintegration, I believe the Yuan family has a clear understanding of this," Zhuge Liang said with a faint smile.

Yuan Sui remained silent for a while before sitting back down in his seat.

These were all respectable people who had worked in the imperial court, so they had some understanding of this matter. The Records of the Grand Historian specifically described how a country collapses: "The danger to the world lies in the collapse of the foundation, not in its disintegration; this has been true throughout history." What is meant by the collapse of the foundation? When the people are suffering and the ruler does not care, when the people are resentful and the ruler is unaware, when customs are in chaos and governance is not restored, this is what is meant by the collapse of the foundation.

As for the collapse, let's leave that aside. The collapse can actually be seen as the instigation of ambitious individuals.

Zhuge Liang used this to answer the Yuan family, which was actually both a response and a subtle remark to them: Don't you know what you went through twenty years ago?
If the world could be overthrown by ambitious people, then the common people, who are the foundation, should be living a miserable life. But the common people are living well. Even if there are ambitious people, do you really think they can overthrow the world? Your Yuan family has conducted a social experiment. Do you really think you can deny it after you've finished the experiment?
Of course, we agree. Moreover, this statement makes a lot of sense; it's even a maxim that can be regarded as a guiding principle. Many emperors in later generations have read this statement, but very few of them truly understood the point.

Most of the time, it's the opposite.

The people suffer, yet the ruler remains indifferent; the people resent, yet the ruler is oblivious; customs are in chaos, yet governance is neglected. You should all think carefully about this statement. The humanities, in fact, can be incredibly powerful.