"Oh?" Wu Zetian smiled and said, "Can you solve this eternal problem?"

Princess Taiping also wrinkled her cute little nose and said angrily: "That's right, why are you bragging?"

Pei Shaoqing was not surprised at all about the reactions of Wu Zetian and Princess Taiping, because how to mobilize the enthusiasm of the people is indeed a difficult problem for the ages.

There are too many emperors and dynasties falling on this.

Historically, this major problem was not solved until the Ming Dynasty.

And the solution to this everlasting problem is to open China and France.

However, the real systematic solution to the problem will be after the rise of Shanxi merchants in the Qing Dynasty.

In a word, state-owned enterprises lack competition and are too inefficient, so private enterprises must be introduced as a supplement.

Pei Shaoqing said now: "People are selfish. They transport food for the country. I am afraid that no one in the world will do their best. But if they transport food for their own home, everyone will strive to be the first."

"For the purpose of transporting food at home?" Wu Zetian frowned, "What do you say?"

Pei Shaoqing: "To put it bluntly, it is to give grain merchants certain benefits. Let grain merchants organize grain transportation. As long as grain merchants transport grain to designated areas, such as Chang'an, and the northern states, they can exchange a certain amount of salt. With this salt, they can be used to transfer the corresponding amount of salt to the designated salt farm to redeem the corresponding amount of salt, and then transport it back to the designated area for sale."

"As long as it is profitable, grain merchants will definitely do their best to deliver food."

"Because for every extra day they have to pay an extra day."

"The court can solve the food and salary supply in Guanzhong and the border without spending a penny."

Wu Zetian immediately showed a deep thought on his face. Maybe this method seems to be really feasible?

The Tang Dynasty was actually not short of food. The rice in Huainan Road and Jiangnan Road almost harvested well every year. There was too much food stored in the treasury and could not be eaten up, so they could only rot.

The Grand Canal can solve some problems.

Relying on the canal transportation of the Grand Canal, rice from Huainan can be transported to Luoyang.

However, transporting to Luoyang is already the limit. If you want to transport it west to Guanzhong, the cost will rise sharply.

In the past decade, due to the increasing land annexation in Guanzhong and frequent famines, the two saints visited Dongdu almost every year, but in fact, it was the valley.

Because there is not enough food in Chang'an!

If grain traders were asked to transport grain, the court would really not have to spend a penny to transport rice from Huainan Road or even Jiangnan Road to Chang'an, and even the northern states!

What Pei Shaoqing didn't know was that there was no salt class in the Tang Dynasty.

Salt merchants everywhere are in a stage of wild growth and do not have to pay a penny of tax.

Therefore, this method can really solve the food crisis without a single document from the court!

The only thing this method harms is the interests of the salt merchants now, because they can no longer freely collect salt and sell salt, but must transport grain to Chang'an or the border in exchange for salt intake.

But who cares about the interests of these salt merchants?

If it really doesn't work, at most you can kill a group of salt merchants.

The more Wu Zetian thought about it, the more he felt that this method was feasible.

Princess Taiping saw that Wu Zetian had a different expression and couldn't help asking: "My grandma, is this method feasible?"

"Feable!" Wu Zetian quickly figured out the trick and said, "It's a good method!"

Princess Taiping turned her head and looked at Pei Shaoqing who was close to her, and snorted softly: "The blind cat caught a dead mouse, and it must have happened to let you talk."

Pei Shaoqing glared at him and said, "Then you catch me and see?"

Princess Taiping turned to Wu Zetian and acted coquettishly, "My mother, look at him being cruel to me again."

This time, Wu Zetian ignored Princess Taiping and smiled and said to Pei Shaoqing: "I really underestimate you. I don't expect you to be financially talented."

"I dare not." Pei Shaoqing waved his hand and said, "But Queen, this method also has a bad side."

"It is possible to force salt merchants to take risks and sell private salt. Moreover, this method can only help the temporary difficulties, which can last for fifty years and short for twenty or thirty years. This method becomes a burden."

"A new round of reforms may be carried out at that time."

"Private salt dealers are not worth mentioning." Wu Zetian smiled and said, "As for saying that this method can only be managed for thirty or fifty years, it is already a good method. If you talk about the government military system, it can only last for fifty or sixty years?"

Taiping asked with his little head tilted, "Do you know why this is?"

Pei Shaoqing sneered and said, "The government military system was born based on the equal-field system. Now that the population in Guanzhong has increased, land annexation is becoming increasingly serious. The equal-field system has already been in name only, so the government military system will naturally be unable to continue."

"Yes." Wu Zetiandao, "Isn't the shortage of food in Guanzhong also because of land annexation?"

Speaking of which, Guanzhong is actually not short of food. The land of 800 miles is fertile. How can it be short of food?

Only the court and the common people were short of food, but the warehouses of those aristocratic families were full of food, which was so much that they could not finish eating and could only rot in vain.

Thinking of this, Wu Zetian suddenly felt his heart moved.

At that moment, Wu Zetian asked again: "Shaoqing, do you have a good idea to crack down on land annexation?"

Pei Shaoqing said: "The Queen, there are solutions, but the connection is too wide and the relationship is too big, so I am very hesitant to say it to you."

Wu Zetian said: "It's always okay to talk, right?"

"Okay, I'll tell you." Pei Shaoqing said, "As the saying goes, food is the most important thing for people. My Chinese ancestors have been engaged in farming since ancient times and have a special liking for land."

"Whenever you have surplus savings,"

"I will definitely try to buy more land."

"And once a disaster year is unsustainable, you can often only sell the land."

"In the long run, the more land there is, the less land there is. This is called annexation."

"This is a universal characteristic of the farming nation and is not diverted by anyone's will."

"So it is useless to rely solely on restraint and suppress the noble families, because even if a group of noble families are suppressed and eliminated and the land is evenly distributed to the common people, thirty or fifty years later, the land will still be concentrated in the hands of new noble families. Therefore, suppressing the noble families can only help the temporary difficulties, but cannot fundamentally solve the problem."

Pei Shaoqing sat down and talked, and Princess Taiping was fascinated by the sound of her hands.

This unfaithful man knows so much. In my impression, no one has ever been able to talk like this in front of his mother.

Wu Zetian also looked solemn and said in a deep voice: "Shaoqing's words have come to the point. Since ancient times, there are countless dynasties. The reason why we cannot break this cycle is because we cannot solve the chronic disease of land annexation."

Pei Shaoqing also said: "If you want to break the land annexation, there are only two ways, one is the state-owned land."

"All land, ownership belongs to the state, and noble civilians only have the right to use it, only farming is allowed, and no buying and selling is allowed, which avoids land annexation. However, in this way, nobles will definitely be unhappy and they will rebel."
Chapter completed!