That's a good question, if Zhu Zaiyu didn't ask, Gao Pragmatic wouldn't know how to continue the next topic.

However, this is not really one question, but two.

So Gao pragmatic smiled and said, "Mr. Jiufeng, these are two questions, but it doesn't matter, the students will answer them one by one." ”

"First of all, where do the local yamen in Huguang get the money to build water conservancy?" Gao pragmatic said, "In the past, our yamen in various places built water conservancy, either the yamen had a slight surplus and took the initiative to start construction on their own, but generally speaking, Mr. also knows that the vast majority of local yamen actually have little money, even if they build water conservancy, they can basically only tinker with it, and they can't do anything famous." If you really want to start a larger project, you can only apply to the household department, and the household department is not rich, unless the local disaster is really too frequent, will think of a little bit of a little to set it up, not to mention the salary, the time is still very long, and the efficiency is extremely low. ”

"Another is that the yamen will take the lead and contact the local rich gentry to jointly fund the construction of water conservancy. In this case, more funds will generally be raised, and the scale and quality will be relatively more secure. But at the same time, this method of construction often leads to some troubles, the biggest of which is that one place is only one place. ”

"Since it is the local rich gentry who have contributed the money, their main consideration must be for their own interests, and they are unlikely to take into account the neighboring prefectures and counties. For example, if the wealthy gentry of County A raise funds to build an aqueduct, they will not consider whether the neighboring county B will be short of water after the completion of their aqueduct, which will cause conflicts between the two counties in many cases, and at the same time, the aqueduct project will not really play the greatest effect. ”

Zhu Zaiyu was secretly surprised in his heart, and many Beijing officials have secretly called this young man Xiaoge Lao over the years, and originally thought that he was the same as Yan Shifan, just relying on the power of his parents to do nonsense. But when I saw the truth today, I knew that this young man was really thinking seriously about how to govern, which is amazing, how old is he, fifteen or sixteen, and he is thinking about these things in his head, Gao Xinzheng treats him as a mantle heir to cultivate, it seems that there is some truth. Well, the first emperor asked him to accompany Jinshang, which seems to be a good move.

Gao pragmatic didn't know that Zhu Zaiyu was a little distracted, and still continued to analyze, "Therefore, there are problems with these two construction methods, one is that the funds are insufficient, the big construction cannot be started, and the efficiency is low, and the other is that it is not well considered, limited to one city and one place, and does not maximize the effect of water conservancy facilities." ”

Zhu Zaiyu became interested and asked, "Gao Longwen's analysis is admittedly thorough, so dare to ask if there is any way to solve these problems?"

Gao pragmatically smiled and said, "If someone is willing to lend money to the local yamen and plan these water conservancy projects in a unified manner, so as to achieve the effect of one project and multiple benefits, these things will be solved." ”

Zhu Zaiyu was stunned for a moment, "Who can lend money to the yamen"

"Why can't you lend money to the yamen," Gao Shishi laughed, "Is Mr. Jiufeng worried that the yamen will not pay back?"

"Uh, this" Zhu Zaiyu was a little stunned, and said with some hesitation, "The yamen should be able to repay the money, but even if the yamen is willing to pay it back, but in case they don't have the money to pay back, what should I do?"

"That's easy." Gao pragmatic said with a smile: "It's good to mortgage the commercial tax, if they can't come up with the money for a while, they will mortgage the commercial tax to the person who lent them money, and repay a part of it every year until it is repaid." Of course, these commercial taxes do not need to be fully mortgaged, but also a part of the mortgage, such as half of the mortgage, 30% of the mortgage, etc., the specific situation can be discussed. ”

"This lends money to the yamen, it seems that there is some" Although Zhu Zaiyu is a big scientist, he obviously never considered playing like this. China has been an authoritarian politics in the past dynasties, but it is not a merchant politics, so Zhu Zaiyu couldn't turn a corner for a while, how could the yamen owe money to individuals

If you do this, won't the person who is willing to borrow money become the creditor of the yamen, and where will the yamen's face be placed?

Gao Shishi asked with a smile, "Mr. Jiufeng thinks that the yamen is looking for someone to borrow money, which is really a bit unusual."

"Well, this one is a little, a little embarrassing." Zhu Zaiyu couldn't find any suitable words for a while, so he could only use a "little embarrassing".

Gao Pragmatic shook his head and said, "In fact, this kind of thing is something that individuals lend money to the yamen in ancient times. ”

Zhu Zaiyu was surprised, "Yes, there are examples"

"Of course." Gao Pragmatic smiled and said, "For example, it was recorded in the middle of the Chinese that in the third year of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, in order to quell the rebellion of the princes, a lot of funds were needed, and the leading generals of the Han Dynasty had to borrow money from merchants, and it was from usury. However, many merchants refused to borrow money because they feared that the massive rebellion would be quelled. ”

Gao pragmatic paused and blinked, "However, there is a Wuyan clan who is willing to lend money to the imperial court, but this person asks for a very ruthless price, and he asks for ten times the interest In order to quell the rebellion, the Han Dynasty court finally had to borrow this money, and three months later, the rebellion of Wu Chu was put down, and the Wuyan clan recovered the principal and interest as scheduled, and became a huge rich man in Chang'an in one fell swoop." As a result, lending has even become one of the main ways for the families of high-ranking officials in the Western Han Dynasty to obtain wealth. ”

As soon as he said this, Zhu Zaiyu immediately understood, and said, "This is the son of the Qian family in the Han Dynasty, if you say so, there are such people in all dynasties, such as the Song Dynasty, there are money in the Yuan Dynasty, and there are lambs, Guan Hanqing said that the cadres are naughty and idle, and they buy false ones to see some lamb profits, and Zhao Yi also has poems and clouds, which are like poor people paying off debts, and lambs are more profitable than capital." ”

Gao pragmatically nodded: "Well, it's somewhat similar." ”

Zhu Zaiyu hurriedly said: "But this dynasty is not allowed, my dynasty has a clear stipulation that all private money, debts and pawns, the monthly profit shall not exceed three points, although there are many years, but one book and one profit." Violators, forty lashes, with surplus profits, the heavier ones sit dirty"

Gao pragmatically smiled, "So what the student just said is just a little similar, not the same," he stretched out three fingers, "If you lend money to this person in the government, you will only receive three points of interest, and even, maybe it can be a little less, this is not illegal."

"Uh" Zhu Zaiyu was stunned for a moment, and hesitated, "This shouldn't be illegal." But he remembered a big problem again, and said with wide eyes, "But we are talking about overhauling water conservancy, the money needed is not a small number, and the money lent by the Wuyan clan to the court of the Han Dynasty is only a thousand gold, but this is in Huguang to build water conservancy, where is a thousand gold can be beaten, and 10,000 gold can't be beaten, and even 100,000 gold, who is willing to borrow such a large sum of money, and who can borrow so much money."

"Mr. Jiufeng asked a good question," Gao Pragmatic laughed, "Xinzheng is not pragmatic, he is willing to borrow this money, and he can borrow it." ”