Zhao Hou smiled bitterly: "You also know some of the doctrines of the Mo family. When it comes to defending the city, it is indeed from Mo Zhai onwards, and the Mo family's skill in defending the city is unparalleled in the world, which is beyond reproach. ”

"But about how to defend the city, some of Mo Zhai's remarks are actually a bit too 'love for the people' and have no king."

"According to what he said, it is: the people offer corn, cloth, money, cattle and horses, and livestock, all of which are set up in Pingjia, and the main coupons are written."

This is not some technical means for the Mo family to defend the city, but it is what the Mo family has required the monarch to do since the Mo Zhai era. Only by doing this, the Mo family may be able to help defend the city, otherwise it is impossible to help defend the city at all.

The people offered corn, cloth, money, cattle and horses, and livestock were all placed in Pingjia, and the main coupon book.

That is, among the three major and eight: not taking a stitch from the masses and borrowing things to be returned. All everything collected for the purpose of defending the city must be marked with an IOU at the parity price, and the person who has the main coupon must write an IOU and return it after the defense of the city.

This is not unacceptable to the princes and nobles, sometimes as long as they can hold the city, they can accept a lot of demands.

However, the ownership problem reflected in this is difficult for the princes and nobles to accept once they think about it.

The people offered corn, cloth, money, cattle and horses, and livestock were all placed in Pingjia, and the main coupon book.

In other words, the people's things are their private property, so they must pay back what they took from the people in order to defend the city. This is contrary to the principle of dividing the feudal system, especially in the eyes of some nobles, the people's things can be taken directly for the reason of defending the city.

Behind the meaning of borrowing is the question of the ownership of the people, and by extension, property is an inviolable and sacred right, which cannot be deprived of any man's property unless it is expressly demanded by a lawfully recognized public necessity.

Nowadays, the doctrine of the Mohists has always been practiced around some ideas put forward by Shi, and Mozi may have just thought that this would make it easier to defend the city.

But now that Mozi has passed away, it is appropriate to use some of Mozi's remarks to revolve around "righteousness" and "heavenly will", making the meaning behind these practices more profound.

As stated in the "Miscellaneous Shou"—the people offered corn, cloth, money, cattle, horses, and livestock were all placed in Pingjia, and the main book of the book—was extended to why it was in accordance with the will of heaven and why it could be done.

By extension, it is possible to borrow, or even compulsorily borrow, some of the property of the population "unless it is determined by public necessity and on the basis of just and advance compensation".

The public need here is to defend the city, and the Mohist guarding the city is "defending the city for righteousness", and this condition for requisitioning people's materials is also based on the righteousness of the Mohists.

The content of this may be just benevolent government for some people who are still chaotic, but for those who can perceive the waves of the world, they pay more attention to the "heavenly will" hidden behind it.

Gong Zhong had even heard of this, and he also knew some details of the Mo family's technique of defending the city, but he knew that if it was just "the people offered corn, cloth, money, cattle and horses, and livestock, all of which were placed in Pingjia and the main book", he was afraid that Zhao Hou would not be able to be so angry that he would say something like the decline of the world.

When he saw Zhao Hou say this, he first said tentatively: "Your Majesty, the people seek profit, according to the morality of the Mo family, if it is said that they are all in Pingjia, and the main coupon book, as long as they can hold Handan, it is not impossible to agree." ”

Zhao Hou laughed and said, "Zhiping Jia? If it is really Pingjia, where can I say that the people are greedy? ”

"The people of Handan are taking advantage of the danger of the country to lend me usury!"

After speaking, he sent the letter in his hand to Gong Zhonglian and said, "Look at it, what are these people asking for?" ”

Gong Zhong hastily skimmed through the letters, and finally understood what the reason for Zhao Hou's anger was.

These letters are a letter to Zhao Hou after Zhao Hou's son-in-law visited Hu Feizi again and again to ask Hu Feizi to come forward to help defend Handan, and Hu Feizi began to gather the people and gave Zhao Hou a letter in the name of the people's "public will".

Zhao Hou just said that if he was to settle Jia, he would not say that the people were greedy and insatiable.

The so-called Pingjia is also a kind of interest-free loan, that is, when defending the city, all the corn, horses, firewood, houses, etc. collected from the people are recorded according to the market price, and will be repaid at the parity price in the future.

Looking at the world, this is already shocking, and the nobles will think this is incredible: I use the things of the common people to defend the city, and I still need compensation?

The nobles used the things of the common people, why should they compensate?

This is a very deep question.

It is so advanced that it needs the various books of the Mo family that can add up to a foot thick to explain the reasonableness of compensation.

This is also a very superficial question.

It is so superficial that the public does not need to read the arguments of the Mohist books that add up to a foot thick, and just saying this point of view will get countless supporters.

In addition to these shocking words, the people of Handan today can be regarded as "changing the capital and increasing the interest", the interest interest.

At this time, there were many usury, and many nobles also changed careers from simply relying on land rent income to devote themselves to the business of moneylenders, and Meng Weijun of later generations was the best among them.

This time, the people of Handan have a lot of demands, and the first one is also the demand of a large number of Handan people who live on the land, which is very interesting.

The letter said that after the collective discussion of the people of Handan, in the name of public opinion, the following requirements were made to the original Gongzi Zhang and the current Zhao Hou:

Gongzizhang had already carried out some changes in the granting of land in Handan, as suggested by the Mo family, the land would be granted to the people, and only the people's taxes would be collected, and the land would become the private property of the common people in the form of payment and redemption in 20 years.

This change has been underway for many years now, but most people still have not paid off all their "loans".

Some of the people were distrustful of the aristocracy and were not sure whether the land would really belong to them in the future, so they only paid it back according to the minimum amount each year.

In this regard, this time Handan was about to be besieged, and it was when Handan City was in urgent need of food, and everyone officially proposed to Zhao Hou through the organization of the Mo family: It is okay to collect grain, but as the private property of the people, grain needs to be lent to Zhao Hou in the form of loans.

According to the interest rate of two-tenths of the money lent by the nobles today, the grain, money, and even the money that Zhao Hou used to fight for the throne with the Gongzi Dynasty this time would use the Mo family as a guarantee to concentrate the grain and money in it.

Among them, the grain is lent at the current market price, and the interest of two-tenths is repaid in five years, and Zhao Hou needs to use land as a way to repay.

That is to say, if Zhao Hou is lent one stone of grain now, Zhao Hou will need to repay two stones five years later, and the principal and interest of these grains will be directly paid for those redemptions of land.

In other words, it was the Mo family as an intermediary who issued war bonds in Handan, and the interest on the war bonds was 20 percent, and Zhao Hou did not need to repay the money, but only asked the people to use the money as a ransom to buy land.

Because the 20 percent interest is paid in five years, it is equivalent to the people of Handan who can spend only half of their grain in exchange for their land.

This is also the reason for Zhao Hou's anger in his heart, and it is also the reason for lamenting that people's hearts are not ancient and the world is declining.

For example, today, the conscription system has only just emerged, and the system of half-recruiting and half-awarding soldiers has only just emerged, and then it has been impacted by gunpowder and firearms stirrups, resulting in the fact that in addition to light cavalry and irregular troops, the government military system really has no advantage, and it can be said that it is about to die at birth.

Originally, the system of the world was that the people needed to obey feudal obligations, and they needed to carry a part of their own food when they went out with the army.

As for the nobles guarding the city, that is, they are guarding their own economic foundation and power base, plus the peasants are attached to the land, and can be divided or transferred together with the land, so it is normal to requisition the people's grain and horses at will when defending the city, and it can be regarded as benevolent and righteous government if they can do what Mozi said, "The people offer corn, cloth, money, cattle and horses, and livestock, all of which are placed in Pingjia, and the main coupon book" can be regarded as benevolent and righteous government.

At this time, the people of Handan actually demanded that Zhao Hou need to pay interest when requisitioning their grain, which is simply ...... The aristocrats are shocked to hear, the great rebellion, the people's hearts are not ancient, the world is declining, and so on......

Now, Zhao Hou feels that he has implemented benevolent governance in Handan, and he has treated the people far better than Jinyang back then, but the people have no gratitude, and they are trying to get more benefits, how can they not be angry?

After reading the first few articles, Gong Zhonglian bowed: "I can understand your anger now! ”

Zhao Hou was overjoyed, since he walked into Gong Zhonglian's bedroom, he has been suffering from Gong Zhonglian's preaching, and at this time, Gong Zhonglian actually said that he could understand his anger, and his heart was infinitely happy.

However, Gong Zhonglian then said, "If you are a businessman, I can indeed understand your anger now. But if you are the monarch of Zhao and the feudal lord of Handan, then I can't understand your anger. ”

"You now have a good horse in the stable that can travel eight hundred times a day, although it is not as good as the eight horses of Mu Tianzi, but it is not about the same; You have meat in the oil; There is a beautiful concubine in your palace; Even if you don't have Hou Zhu and the clan in your mansion, you still have all kinds of jewels and treasures...... What you lack is the heart of Zhao Ren. ”

"As the monarch of Zhao and the feudal lord of Handan, you are angry because the people paid half of the land ransom money, so if you are a merchant who only knows how to make profits, this is understandable."

"But you're not. You need the people of Handan to support the army, you need the food of Handan to guarantee the expedition, you need the money of Handan to ensure that you can buy cannons, muskets, gunpowder and stirrups...... Isn't it ridiculous that you should be grateful to be able to lend you money, even if it's twelve years of interest, and you are angry that you can lend you money? ”