The most arrogant in history

Chapter 324 The Envoy from Jiangdong.

The poem that Ye Kun recited comes from Mr. Jin’s novel.

In the novel, Huang Rong was troubled by fishermen, woodcutters, farmers and scholars, and used this poem when she was bickering with a scholar.

It means a slash, picking faults with Mencius.

Mencius told a story about a poor man who stole a chicken from his neighbor's house every day. Ordinary people in ancient times were not rich, so how could the neighbor have so many chickens?

Mencius also told a story about a poor man who had a wife and a concubine. However, his family was too poor to buy wine, so he went to the cemetery to steal the wine offered by other people's sacrifices and lied to his wife and concubine, saying that high-ranking officials invited him to drink. If he had no money to buy wine, how could the poor man have two wives?

The Zhou emperor still existed at that time, so it is easy to understand why everyone was talking about Wei and Qi - it was still the Zhou Dynasty's empire, and the Zhou emperor was still there. Mencius emphasized loyalty and filial piety, so why didn't you assist the emperor but instead defected to the vassal states?

Ma Zhao opened his mouth and blushed.

Ye Kun looked at everyone again and said:

"Even if I, Ye Kun, bear the stigma of being unfilial, I cannot neglect government affairs and let the people of Yizhou suffer. There are tens of thousands of parents in the world, and my parents are just one of them. It would be my fault if I made all the parents in the world suffer from hunger and cold just because I pretended to be filial. Confucianism also said that we should love the old as well as the old of others, and love the young as well as the young of others. This is what we should remember."

Guan Yafu strongly supported Ye Kun and said:

"Master Ye is right. The dead are gone, but the living must continue to live. In extraordinary times, we cannot be bound by ancient rituals and neglect the great affairs of the world."

Ma Zhao admitted defeat and clasped his fists, saying, "Lord Ye, your words are profound. I am too pedantic."

Ye Kun nodded: "Get ready and go on patrol with me tomorrow."

Chongqing and Chengdu are the foundation of Yizhou.

Chongqing is Ye Kun's base, which can contain the Chengdu gentry, so Ye Kun has paid close attention to the development of Chongqing.

The next day, Ye Kun brought Jiang Yourong, Hua Daixi, and a group of officials, including Ma Zhao and Xie Tong, and headed to Chongqing for an inspection.

The 'highway' from Chongqing to Chengdu has already been completed.

After straightening the bends and filling the valleys with mountains, the road became wide and straight, and people could ride fast and light horses to complete the journey in a day and a half.

Ye Kun also set up post stations and small castles along the way to facilitate the transportation of troops and food in the future.

As they patrolled and visited along the way, the common people welcomed Ye Kun and his wife with food and drink.

Ye Kun met with them one by one, asking them how the people were doing, what difficulties they had, and whether the grassroots officials were competent.

Jiang Yourong and Dai Xi took out gifts and money and distributed them to the poor people. They also taught the people how to spin and weave clothes.

Although Ye Kun has been committed to people's livelihood, the poor are still very poor.

It's winter now, and many people are wearing thin clothes, and some are even barefoot!

Ye Kun was shocked and asked the local officials:

"In such a cold winter, people don't have enough warm clothes, and some even go barefoot, which makes them very susceptible to illness. In the absence of good medical conditions, a minor illness can be fatal. Since the beginning of autumn, we have distributed more than 20,000 sets of old clothes and shoes. Why are there still so many poor people?"

In the spring, we fought against Xiahou Chang, and among the spoils of war were many old clothes.

It was taken off from the bodies of dead enemy soldiers.

Ye Kun had people wash the old clothes, dry them in the sun to disinfect them, and mend them. When autumn came, they were distributed to the people.

There were also old military uniforms discarded by the army every year, as well as old clothes recycled from the market. Ye Kun had them properly kept, mended, and sent to various counties and prefectures, and then distributed to the poor people.

Logically speaking, everyone should have clothes to wear.

The local county magistrate replied: "Our county was allocated 2,200 sets of used clothes in total, 1,000 of which were distributed. There are still more than 1,000 sets of used clothes in the warehouse, but we dare not distribute them. According to regulations, a batch must be reserved for emergency use."

"It's urgent enough now, send it quickly!"

Ye Kun looked unhappy: "If anyone freezes to death in your county, I will hold you responsible."

The county magistrate was trembling with fear and immediately sent a minor official to the county town to transport the clothes.

Xie Tong pleaded for the county magistrate, clasped his fists and said:

"Master Ye, some of these poor people originally lived in the mountains to avoid war and taxes, and have only recently come down from the mountains, so they are poor. We have limited supplies, and it is difficult to take care of them all..."

Ye Kun frowned: "All the wild people in the mountains have come down. This means that our population should increase a lot, right?"

Xie Tong nodded: "According to statistics, the population of our Yizhou has increased by more than 40,000 in the past two months. There are wild people from the mountains, and there are also people who have fled here. According to Lord Ye's request, all counties and prefectures have accepted these people and given them resettlement."

“That’s a good point!”

Ye Kun was satisfied and said thoughtfully:

"Allocate a sum of money from the government treasury to purchase the cheapest clothes and shoes, and distribute them to the counties of Yizhou to help the poorest people. Don't worry about the people in the city, the main focus is on the countryside."

Most of the people in the city are engaged in business or have skills, and they can still make a decent living.

The people who suffer the most are the people in the countryside.

While inspecting all the way to Chongqing, Ye Kun discovered that there were many vendors coming and going on the road.

Moreover, the vendors all look good and their clothes are nice too, so they must be making a lot of money!

Ye Kun instructed Xie Tong to set up toll booths at both ends and in the middle of the highway and collect appropriate fees.

It cost a lot of money to build the road, and we need to make some money back from the merchants!

All wise rulers know how to rob the rich and give to the poor.

Increasing commercial taxes and reducing agricultural taxes can not only solve fiscal problems, but also build a good reputation and gain the support of the majority of groups!

The Xie Tong family was the largest merchant in Yizhou, so they naturally resisted and frowned, saying, "Master Ye, it's not easy to be a merchant, you see..."

“It’s even harder for ordinary people.”

Ye Kun didn't give him face and said with a smile: "I am rich in products in Yizhou. Now we have iron pots, sesame oil, porcelain and glass. I am not afraid that merchants will not come!"

The technology of tea and sesame oil has gradually become difficult to block.

However, porcelain, iron pots and glass are still good industries for Yizhou to control the outside world!

After arriving in Chongqing, Ye Kun inspected all the work and was very satisfied with Hou Qi's work.

Huangfu Lin received the news and also came to Chongqing to report his work and situation to Ye Kun.

New warships have also been built and are being trained in Chongqing.

Ye Kun took Huangfu Lin and other naval commanders to visit the naval exercises at the water fort to check the actual combat results.

Some obsolete old warships were used as targets.

The new warships are mainly small and medium-sized attack warships.

Small boats were equipped with muskets, and medium-sized warships were equipped with cannons and chariot crossbows that could fire rockets.

Huangfu Lin watched it for a day and was very excited. He said to Ye Kun:

"Master Ye, our new warships have far greater attack power than Jiangdong's warships. They can destroy everything in their path. I think we can launch an attack by the end of the year and severely damage the Jiangdong navy!"

Ye Kun shook his head: "There are only 700 new warships now, big and small. It is far from enough to destroy Jiangdong. And we just finished the war between Yong and Liang states, so we need to recover our strength."

Huangfu Lin asked, "Lord Ye, when do you think we can attack Jiangdong?"

Ye Kun thought for a moment and said, "In another year, I will beat the Jiangdong rats into submission and avenge Shangguan Jifu!"

Unexpectedly, while they were discussing, the Qing soldiers came to report that Xiao Dequan from Jiangdong had sent an envoy to see them!