It's spring plowing season again, and the fields outside Handan are full of busy people.

A carriage was driving slowly on the road, and the person sitting on the carriage was none other than Zhao Dan and Zhao Heng, father and son.

Zhao Dan looked at the very lively scene on both sides of the road, and couldn't help but feel a little emotional in his heart.

Speaking of which, Zhao Dan has not come out to observe the people's situation for so many years.

Even in the process of observing the people's feelings, Zhao Dan did not forget to educate the future successors of his empire.

"Heng'er, you must remember that the people live on food. If you want to rule firmly in the future, then feeding the people is the most basic requirement. As long as the people can eat enough, it will be very difficult for any rebel to start an army. ”

Zhao Heng nodded again and again, and then seemed to suddenly remember something, and said softly: "But father, in fact, the son has a problem." What if it was not the people who wanted to rebel, but the generals who held the military power in their hands? ”

When Zhao Dan heard this, he couldn't help laughing.

"This is actually a very interesting question. The widow asked you, do you know why the widow can trust these hundreds of thousands of troops to Wu Xinjun and the Grand Governor, and not be afraid that they will raise an army to rebel? ”

Zhao Heng said: "Because whether it is Wu Xinjun or the Metropolitan Governor, they are very loyal to their father. ”

"Nope." Zhao Dan shook his head and said, "It's not like this. ”

The young prince of Zhao was stunned.

Zhao Dan looked at the endless green on both sides of the road, and said leisurely: "People's hearts will change, how can there be any eternal sincerity in this world?" Remember, as a king, you should never place unconditional trust in anyone. The reason why the widows were able to trust their army to them was because they had no ability to rebel at all. ”

"But ......" Zhao Heng couldn't help but say, "Isn't the army in their hands the biggest reason for their rebellion?" ”

Zhao Dan nodded and said, "That's right." But do not forget that the army is outnumbered, and not theirs. The soldiers of these armies received the land and military merits of the widows, and received the kindness and rewards of the widows, and the hearts of the soldiers were on the side of the widows, so how could they betray the widows? ”

After a pause, Zhao Dan said with some meaning: "And...... Even if they do have a rebellion, the widow is not without other means. ”

Zhao Heng looked even more dazed, and only after a moment did he say, "How did Father do it?" ”

Zhao Dan looked at his young son and couldn't help but smile: "It's actually very simple. When you become a great king in the future, you must also remember that whenever you reward a soldier, you as a great king must be present. In this way, all the soldiers will understand that everything they have comes from you, and they will naturally support you. Because to support you is to support their military exploits, and to support the beautiful life they have won desperately on the battlefield! ”

"Grace is not to be done to others, you see?"

Zhao Heng pondered for a moment, seemed to understand something, and nodded slowly.

Zhao Dan didn't explain much.

When they were young, many people listened to their parents' advice to "don't fall in love", but there are still many people who have not done it, so when these people grow up in the future, they will tell their children to "don't fall in love".

It's a cycle.

Sometimes it's better to say too much, and it's better to let him think about it for himself, and what he can experience is more impressive and memorable.

Zhao Dan continued to ask: "You have been to Qi Country for a while, how do you feel over there?" ”

Zhao Heng was actually specially called back by Zhao Dan to participate in the spring ploughing ceremony a while ago.

As soon as he talked about Qi Guo, Zhao Heng's face showed an excited look, and there were obviously more words.

"Father, after my son went to Qi Kingdom, I realized that the wealth of Qi Land was on par with my Zhao Land. It's just that after the war, it will take time to recover. ”

In the process of Zhao Heng's growth, Zhao has almost always been the most powerful country in the world, and Handan is also the richest and most developed city in the world, which makes Zhao Heng somewhat proud.

But when Zhao Heng went to the country of Qi and came into contact with some people and things, the prince of the state of Zhao suddenly discovered that in fact, the people of the country of Qi also have his uniqueness, and there is a reason why the country of Qi has been able to stand in the world for so many years.

Zhao Dan nodded with a smile and said, "That's natural. The State of Qi has been a powerful country in the Central Plains since Huanggong Xiaobai, and it has not fallen for hundreds of years, and its heritage is very difficult to reach even for the State of Zhao. In addition, the production of salt in Qidi, its handicraft industry is also in the forefront of other countries, and the business is very developed, so it can continuously create tax revenue for Qi. In fact, the strength of the Qi country has a lot to do with the wealth of the Qi country, you should know, right? ”

"Yes." Zhao Heng nodded with great certainty, and said: "Erchen has checked the financial files of the Qi State for a while, and found that the Qi State was strong before the Five Kingdoms attacked Qi, and the treasury was abundant, and the bounties of the five skilled fighters could be allocated on time, so the Qi army did not need to die every time they fought. However, since the Five Kingdoms invaded Qi, the treasury of Qi began to be empty, and Hou Sheng's clever name took a lot of money from the treasury, resulting in the bounty of skilled fighters not being paid in full, which made the combat effectiveness of the Qi army deteriorate. ”

Zhao Dan nodded and said, "Yes, that's exactly the truth." Therefore do not underestimate the economy of money, much less the merchants. When a country's economy and commerce are running well, the country's national strength will continue to grow, but if a country's economy and commerce are in trouble, then the country's troubles will come. Speaking of which, you may not know that nearly 20% of the taxes received from the treasury of the widows have actually been paid in the commercial tax. ”

"Twenty percent?" Zhao Heng couldn't help but be stunned.

You must know that the view of businessmen in this era has been relatively one-sided and discriminatory, and from the mainstream view, businessmen do not create anything at all, but just hoard, buy and sell and make profits from it.

But it is such an industry that does not produce things, but it can supply 20% of the tax for Zhao State?

Considering the current territory and population of the Zhao State, this is undoubtedly a very amazing thing.

Suffice it to say, this is something that was never thought of before.

After all, the financial revenue of the vassal states has basically come from agriculture, or the taxes paid by the peasants, and even in the Central Plains countries with developed commerce and trade, the proportion of commercial taxes has never exceeded 10%.

"Yes, twenty percent." Zhao Dan said with great certainty: "In fact, if it weren't for the fact that many officials secretly concealed their income for the businessmen in their families, then this figure is likely to increase to forty percent, or even more!" ”

You must know that commercial activities have always been inseparable from the government.

As one of the countries with developed commercial activities among the six countries of Shandong, many of the great nobles have already secretly intervened in many commercial matters.

For example, Guo Zong is a famous iron merchant, and Lü Buwei's family is the largest manure merchant in Zhao State, with the mining of coal in Zhao State in recent years, coal merchants have also begun to appear, and the largest coal merchant in Zhao State has the shadow of Zheng Zhu and Yu Xin and others, and Li Mu's border cavalry army is also secretly intervening in the cattle, sheep and slave trade from the border.

In such a situation, in fact, there are many taxes that should be collected and not collected.

If these commercial taxes can be collected, then Zhao's treasury revenue can increase a lot.

After listening to Zhao Dan's explanation, Zhao Heng's young face was full of anger, and he said angrily: "These ministers are too hateful, their father gave them status and power, but are they repaying their father's trust like this?" ”

Of course, Zhao Heng has reason to be angry, as the crown prince of Zhao State, all this in the future will be inherited by Zhao Heng, and now these ministers are digging the corner of Zhao State, it is completely digging Zhao Heng's corner!

Zhao Dan smiled and said to Zhao Heng: "You have to remember that as a king, you must calm down at all times, otherwise you will be easily disturbed by anger, and then make wrong judgments, understand?" ”

Zhao Heng paused for a moment, then lowered his head and said, "Erchen understands, in fact, Erchen is just angry......"

Zhao Dan stretched out his hand and patted Zhao Heng's shoulder, and said, "It's good that you understand." In fact, these things may not have been instructed by these important ministers of Longtai. People's ** are endless, and as a king, we have to distinguish clearly which people only think about the family and not the country in their hearts, and which people are loyal to the country but also want to seek a little welfare for the family. For the former, we will naturally resolutely attack, but for the latter, it is a different matter. ”

When Zhao Dan said this, his eyes flashed with a strange look.

"What else?" Zhao Heng couldn't help but ask: "Father, what kind of law is different?" ”

Zhao Dan glanced at Zhao Heng, with a somewhat unpredictable smile in his eyes: "Every seven days in the future, a secret report will arrive on your desk." Thou shalt see from this secret report what the widow did, and then think of what thou might have done. ”

As he spoke, the carriage suddenly stopped. Mao Sui, who was driving in front, knocked on the car door and said, "Master, the place has arrived!" ”

Zhao Dan stopped talking and smiled at his eldest son: "Okay, let's go with the widow to see how the widow's people are farming this year." ”u