"Why is this happening!"

Li Mu raised this question to Li Shimin and officials. Who can know this? If the monarch and ministers know it, it would not be Li Mu's turn to talk big here.

Li Mu answered himself, "In fact, it's very simple. It's just that it's greedy and can't bear to spend money. The monarchs, ministers, family members, and nobles of the previous dynasty have already enjoyed all the glory and wealth, but they still want more. They are unwilling to share even a little bit of money for the poor people, and are only thinking about how to exploit them in different ways!"

"Let them work, do labor, don't pay or even eat enough! Is this a human being?"

"The gold and silver in your family are piled up like mountains! The food is rotten and moldy, and I will not be willing to take it out for these people to make a living. Is this a human being?"

Li Mu pointed at the Sang and scolded the locust. When he spoke, his eyes were aimed at several officials from the aristocratic families in the court. Wang Gui wanted to avoid his sight, but Li Mu had already walked in front of him, so he had to respond helplessly, saying, "If you don't count as a human being, how can you count as a human being?"

"Good words!" Li Mu took Wang Gui's hand and said, "Look at our Shizhong. Although he is from the Wang family in Taiyuan, he can understand the suffering of the people and has such a high awareness. I think one day, if there are poor people coming to ask for advice, our Shizhong will definitely donate generously to prevent the poor people from disappointing."

What else could Wang Gui say? The big hat had been put off, so he had to laugh awkwardly on his face and echoed.

"But!" Li Mu suddenly changed his mind and said, "Not all people can be as noble as Wang Shizhong. Most people have very ugly eating habits. So sometimes, I don't claim to be aloof and say that I treat money as dirt. I really can't understand why some families have accumulated wealth from generation to generation, and have to spend so much money that they have to continue to compete for fame and fortune? You have thousands of houses and only one sleeping room. What can you do if you have gold and silver mountains? Can you eat or drink?"

"It's better to restrain your greed and share it with others. Doing things like this will inevitably lead to twice the result with half the effort. The people are actually very satisfied, they only need to make a living. But this small hope is a luxury for most people. Therefore, there are so many refugees who leave their hometowns just for a meal."

"Why do I treat money as dirt? The reason is very simple, because I have suffered so much!" Li Mu glanced at everyone and asked word by word: "Dare you guys, who has ever tasted hunger?"

Everyone responded inconsistently, some were moved, while others were confused. Those who were moved were mostly generals who had experienced the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty and fought against all directions. Those who were confused were mostly from aristocratic families. People like them had never been hungry even during the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty. How could they know the feeling of hunger?

Li Mu's lips curled up a curve, as if he was laughing, or mocking him, saying, "It's really bad to feel hungry. I suggest you try it. It tastes like not eating rice for three days. I believe that after you try it, you will have more kind thoughts in your heart."

Li Mu turned around and faced Li Shimin. While everyone was thinking about his words, he secretly blinked at Li Shimin. Li Shimin sat on the dragon throne and saw clearly below. Seeing Li Mu's hint, he knew that he was going to start supporting the role again.

"I have said so much, but I just want you to be able to "meet and feel". I don't care whether you do it or not. But since I have found the problem, I have to give the solution I have thought of."

Li Mu looked upright and said, "First of all, I ask Your Majesty to lighten the tax and pay less tax. The so-called light tax and pay less tax is slightly different from the records in historical books. The so-called light tax and pay less tax is not to reduce it, but to avoid corvee as much as possible. The transformation of corvee service into a system similar to the current system of the Ministry of Works, that is, to spend money to hire people to start work."

"Your Majesty and the Dukes may be worried that if this is implemented, it will bring huge burdens to the court. I dare to guarantee it, but I will not!"

Li Mu said loudly: "I have done an experiment. For the same errand, the same errand, the two methods of levying corvee and settlement salary are started at the same time. The way to settle salary is twice as fast as levying corvee! In this way, a lot of time is saved, and in terms of quality, the settlement salary is better than the amount of levying corvee. We might as well do some calculations. If it is levying corvee, even if it is not spent money, the meal must be paid? Save twice the time and twice the food. At the same time, the construction period is shortened, and you can free up time to do other things. In the same time, more things have been done, which is also worth it."

"There is also a very easy-to-understand issue. Assuming that you are bricklayers, the court now asks you to build walls. If you don't give money, what you think is that if the court doesn't give money, then I won't do it well. Just be slow. I will do less work and let others do more. How can the quality of such a project be good? But if you give money, it's different. Doing more work, making more money, and doing better work, and having more wages a day. So everyone will work hard because they are for themselves."

"Loyalty, filial piety, integrity and righteousness are what the saints said to scholars. Is this right? Yes! But what Your Majesty and the Dukes should know is that most people are people who do not read or have no chance to read the saint's books. They do not understand what loyalty, filial piety, integrity and righteousness are, and they do not need to understand loyalty, filial piety, integrity and righteousness. Even if they understand these, they are eloquent and eloquent, they cannot exchange food for food. Food is the heaven of the people, and His Majesty wants to be a wise ruler, and the Dukes want to be a capable minister in the world. In the eyes of the Mu, only one thing is allowed to do is to praise the world for all generations."

"There is no hunger in the world, and this alone can be remembered forever!"

"This is talking about the problem of food again." Li Mu paused, glanced at Wei Zheng, and said quietly: "The incident of grain merchants raising prices before the New Year showed a very serious stubborn disease of the court, that is, the court's control over grain is very weak. Faced with grain merchants raising food prices, the court had no weapon in his hands. Seeing that His Majesty was worried about this, I, Li Mu, Marquis of Zhulu, couldn't sleep all night, and finally came up with two ways to curb the recurrence of this situation."

"The first method is to follow the previous dynasty, reopen and close the positions, play a role at critical moments, and adjust grain prices."

Hearing this suggestion, Tang Jian from the Ministry of Civil Affairs could not help but speak out and said, "Li Mu, you don't know what you know. The imperial court has thought about how our dynasty was founded for more than ten years, and has been fighting for many years. There is a lot of money to be built. Now the grain produced every year is eaten and consumed tightly every year. Without the surplus, how to store it? Besides, the imperial court does not farm. Even if there is food, it will be collected from grain merchants. The grain merchants are unwilling to sell it. Do you want to rob it?"

After Tang Jian finished speaking, four or five people who agreed immediately stood up, accusing Li Mu of talking about fantasy and not understanding the reality.

After listening to them quietly, Li Mu continued to say, "The Tang Shangshu was just talking about this. The court wanted to build Changping Warehouse, but it was restricted by the grain merchants' refusal to sell grain to the court. Then we might as well think about why grain merchants refused to sell grain? Because selling grain to the court is equivalent to cutting off their own financial paths, and fools would do this! Then there is no way to do things? Not all, the Tang Shangshu had just said a solution. Why didn't the court not farming? If the court farmed and got the grain, wouldn't it be possible to build Changping Warehouse?"

Wang Jingze knew it was time to speak, so he stood up at the right time and said, "Mr. Zhulu said lightly. Farming requires labor and oxen. Where can I find it?!"

"Labor, the government soldiers! Plowing ox? With the Zhenguan plow, as long as the adult man can pull it, what else do you need to plow ox? Is there still a shortage of strong men in the government soldiers? As for not knowing how to reclaim the fields? Sorry, the Ministry of Works' Military Field Department has heard of it? Master the latest military farming technology of the Tang Dynasty, and the teaching and meetings! As long as you are willing to work, hundreds of thousands of hectares of fertile fields can be obtained within a year!"

Wang Jingze was defeated and stumbled for a moment and stopped talking. On the other side, Hou Junji opened his mouth and was about to say, "How can the soldiers in the palace go to cultivate the land?" Suddenly, he remembered what he had just been criticized, and closed his mouth again. If he didn't say anything, the soldiers in the palace can be bodyguards, and there is nothing more embarrassing about farming. One sheep can drive two sheep and put them on the soles of her shoes. She doesn't have any shame!

Hou Junji did not stand up, but some people had to stand up. Because the farming incident was related to their vital interests. These people were the aristocratic forces in the court, especially the Shandong gentry.

If the court had farmed, then in less than a year, the court would have food. If the court had food, who would they sell their food? Someone immediately stood up and shouted that the grain was cheap and the farmers were hurt, and the saliva was flying, regardless of the risks that might be brought by offending Li Mu, and he looked like he was willing to sacrifice himself.

Li Mu did not refute and watched them perform quietly until Li Shimin couldn't listen. He shouted and said, "Where is the Liangyi Hall where you are? You shouted so loudly, but you still take me seriously? Jinwu Guard dragged these unscrupulous people out, and each of them blamed ten battles and drove them out of the palace!"

The Jinwu Guard responded and dragged the noisy people out. Seeing that Li Shimin was really angry, the officials became honest and did not dare to stand up and quarrel with Li Mu again.

Li Mu and others calmed down before continuing to speak: "There is another reason why I made such a suggestion. As far as I know, the court now implements the equal-field system, and each male is divided into 100 acres of land. However, the population has not improved until the end of the Sui Dynasty. After each person divides 100 acres of land, there are still large areas of land that are barren. These lands are limited by the "equal-field system" and no one cultivates it. This directly leads to huge and immeasurable food losses in the court. Even if the soldiers of the government do not reclaim the fields and plant these barren fields, it will be a huge help to the food shortage of the court."

As soon as this statement was spoken, many people wanted to speak but stopped.

This time Li Mu did not say it right, but he said it wrong, and it was ridiculously wrong!

Now the imperial court implements the equal-field system, which is not wrong. But is it really implemented according to the equal-field system? Of course not. As Li Mu said, due to the equal-field system, each person can only divide 100 acres of land, resulting in the desolate fertile land and no one cultivates it. How is this possible?

If the clans listened to the court so much, Li Shimin would not be unable to sleep.

The real situation is that the fertile land that is now all in the hands of aristocratic families. For example, the Wang family in Taiyuan, and the fertile land in Taiyuan are almost in the hands of the Wang family's children. And the 100 acres of land that the people have allocated are basically "scratched materials". How can the people have the chance to get the square fertile land? It is good if they can make up enough scraps.

Li Mu also had another mistake. Is it really short of food today? It is because the court felt that it was short of it. The court calculated the existing land according to the population and the equal-field system, which was naturally not enough. Because the population was concealed, and the real number of fields did not match the report. But in fact, the population was more than reported to the court, and there were more farmed fields. The excess was in the hands of the aristocratic families. They mastered this because they wanted to gain an advantage in the game of the court.

Li Shimin knew this well, and all officials knew it well, but no one exposes it. But Li Mu, the "naive" guy, took it seriously. He was so serious that people wanted to laugh when they looked at it.

Some people want to point out that Li Mu was wrong, but he didn't know how to say it.

What do you say? Whoever exposes this layer of window paper will offend the aristocratic families in the world. So, this matter cannot be said. But if you don’t say it, judging by Li Mu’s posture, he will really ask the soldiers of the mansion to farm according to the number on the books. Then whose fields are stored? All the fields are stored in the aristocratic families!

What a vicious trick!

Everyone suddenly realized and looked at Li Mu again. Only then did they realize that the corners of his mouth were slightly raised. It was very obvious that this was a pit he had dug long ago, and they were waiting for everyone to jump down!

Now there are wolves in front and tigers in back, either advance or retreat. The aristocratic forces in the court don’t know how to speak. After Li Mu plotted against each other, everyone’s face was ashen.

Among them, Changsun Wuji is naturally also included.

Although the Changsun family is not a thousand-year-old family like the Five Family Seven Wangs, the achievements of the Dragon are enough to make them a new rising star in the court. The Changsun family also has a lot of land, but it is not as many as the Five Family Seven Wangs.

The number is naturally greater. If Li Mu's algorithm is followed, Changsun's family will also suffer huge losses.

However, Li Mu did not play according to common sense. Changsun Wuji did not expect that this would be the result, and he didn't know what to do for a while. He knew clearly that Li Shimin was afraid of the family. Li Mu had laid the foundation so well. Li Shimin would not not understand what he meant. What he would do was about to come out.

Changsun Wuji would never suffer such a big loss. Just when Li Shimin opened his mouth and was about to speak, Changsun Wuji finally stopped being a turtle with his head shrink and stood up in one step.
Chapter completed!