Chapter 353 The Loom Appears
There are not many people in the court who can lead troops to fight.
Lu Sen thought for a moment and said, "They are wary of General Di, fearing that he will surpass his master and cause another mutiny in Chenqiao. This is understandable, but the Zhe family and the Zhong family are stationed in Datong Prefecture in the northwest. Can't they just send one of them out?"
Even the intact Northern Liao is no match for the current Song Dynasty, not to mention that the Liao Kingdom has now split into two.
The Prince of Runan frowned when he heard this.
The term "Chenqiao Mutiny"... is the eternal "pain" of their Zhao family. This is what it means to come to power by illegitimate means.
However, the frown of the Prince of Runan was not directed at Lu Sen.
Now Lu Sen is considered a "family member" and a royal relative . Even the emperor has to call him brother-in-law. He said there is naturally nothing wrong with this term.
What made Prince Runan frown was the meaning behind this word.
"My dear son-in-law, how do you think we can avoid this from happening again?"
Lu Sen laughed and said, "Ask me? It's not like I'm sitting on the dragon throne!"
What he said... Prince Runan didn't know how to respond.
Seeing his father-in-law looking embarrassed, Lu Sen said with a smile: "In fact, if we continue to suppress the generals, it will be more likely to cause trouble."
The Prince of Runan's expression turned gloomy: "Will they rebel?"
Lu Sen shook his head: "If we continue to suppress the generals, the Song Dynasty will be invaded by foreign races sooner or later."
The atmosphere suddenly quieted down. After a while, the Prince of Runan County smiled dryly and said, "Are you joking, my dear son-in-law?"
Hearing the other party's tone, Lu Sen raised his eyebrows: "It seems that Taishan should know what I said to Queen Mother Cao."
When Empress Dowager Cao was placed under house arrest in Hangzhou City, Lu Sen talked to her about the "future", but of course it was just a few words.
The Prince of Runan hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
"The main reason is that the military commanders were suppressed too harshly." Lu Sen sighed, "As long as this policy is in place, no matter whether it is the first or the second leader of the Zhao family, they can't escape it. The only difference is that it will be a few decades earlier or later."
"But now that Xixia has been eliminated and Northern Liao is about to surrender...how can such a foreign race come from?"
"The north is cold and harsh, and barbarians are likely to breed there. Without Xixia, there will be Beixia, Dongxia, or Jurchen... In the end, we still need strong generals to help guard the country's borders."
The Prince of Runan walked around in the study for a while, then said, "I've made a note of this matter. I'll talk to Shu'er and the ministers in the court when I have time."
After that, the father-in-law and son-in-law stopped talking about this topic and instead started talking about some interesting things that happened recently in Bianjing City.
The next day, Lu Sen went to Pang Meir's house again.
I also chatted with Master Pang for most of the day.
However, Master Pang is now in the "retirement" stage, unlike the Prince of Runan, who still has to worry about his son.
He lived a happy and carefree life.
On the third day, Lu Sen went to see Bao Zheng .
This time it gets interesting.
There were more people in Bao Zheng's backyard... the Yan family father and son, Wang Anshi, Lu Huiqing, Su Shi and about ten other people.
It can be said that almost all the "elites" in the court are here.
Lu Sen and Bao Zheng sat face to face, while Yan Shu and Fu Bi sat on the left and right guest seats respectively.
As for the others, they all stood aside and listened attentively.
It has been more than a year since Fu Bi was transferred back to the court. He had never met Lu Sen before, but he had eaten a lot of "fruits" that flowed out of the Prince of Runan's Mansion.
He was a very capable man. He made great contributions to the annual tribute of the Liao Kingdom. Later, he served as a local governor and made outstanding achievements.
The current minor official Zhao Shu has great trust in him and it is said that he will most likely be the next Privy Councilor.
Bao Zheng put his hands in his sleeves, looked around, and said, "Master Lu is visiting my humble home, so we should treat you with all our heart, but there are some things that we cannot ignore, so please forgive me."
"No problem." Lu Sen waved his hand: "Prefect Bao, please feel free to speak."
Bao Zheng showed a delighted look on his face: " A few months , I asked Master Lu why you looked up to merchants. At that time you answered: It's because merchants are greedy."
"Yes, I did."
As soon as these words were spoken, the people around had different expressions.
Wang Anshi seemed to be thinking about something, Su Shi looked indignant, and Lu Huiqing was calm.
Bao Zheng sighed and said, "Can you explain it a little?"
"Prefect Bao, are you testing me or questioning me?"
Bao Zheng was stunned for a moment, then he clasped his hands together and bowed slightly: "Please enlighten me."
Seeing Bao Zheng surrender, Fu Bi's thin face was full of surprise.
Bao Zheng had experienced the battle in the Aegean Sea, and he knew very well how strong Lu Sen was.
But Fu Bi didn't. In his eyes, Lu Sen was a cultivator who could "produce" rare and precious fruits and was quite powerful.
Although cultivators are rare, I think they can still be killed if they encounter a large army.
He didn't believe that Lu Sen could go against a country.
But now looking at Bao Zheng's appearance, he had to revise his opinion of Lu Sen.
"Why do I value merchants? That's because most of the tax revenue of the Song Dynasty now comes from commercial taxes."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone nodded.
Although not all of them were from the Ministry of Revenue, they had a rough idea of how much the Ministry of Revenue could earn from agricultural and commercial taxes in a year.
"If that's all, then merchants shouldn't be looked up to by Master Lu." Bao Zheng asked, "Then the uniqueness of merchants should be what Master Lu called 'greed'."
"Yes." Lu Sen nodded and replied: "Master once told me that when the world's material resources are abundant to a certain extent, it is the time for merchants to prosper. And the prosperity of the merchant group will drive the prosperity of the world to further develop, the premise is... you must control the merchants and don't let them hold real power."
Having said that, Lu Sen was very clear that the birth and power of capitalists was almost inevitable.
Even a powerful country like the Rabbit Kingdom in later generations could not fully control the beast of capital, let alone the Northern Song Dynasty at that time.
But even so, when productivity develops to a certain level, capital will naturally be born.
Both the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties had already shown signs of this, but unfortunately they were interrupted twice by the northern barbarians.
At this moment, everyone present had shining eyes.
They knew very well that Lu Sen was going to reveal some "hard stuff".
If others say that merchants can make a country prosperous, they will laugh and treat it as a joke.
But since these words were spoken by Lu Sen, the meaning was different.
Bao Zheng couldn't help but ask: "Why can it lead to prosperity in the world? Because of 'greed'?"
"Yes." Lu Sen smiled and said, "For the sake of money, they will try every possible way to improve production efficiency. They will try to find 'resources' everywhere. They will soon go out to sea on a large scale, find all valuable things, and bring them back to the Song Dynasty. The wealth among them is unimaginable."
Lu Sen said it very simply. He was a person from later generations and knew this historical context.
But Bao Zheng and others were different. They had no knowledge in this area and simply imagined that the country was peaceful and the people were safe, with busy streets and bustling with people.
And it seems that businessmen did play a big role in this.
Lu Sen continued, "Because of greed, if they are not restrained, they will become gluttons and eat all living things."
The eyes of the people around became solemn.
Lu Huiqing couldn't help but ask: "If it's so dangerous, why do we still let the merchants go? Just tie them to the pillars with ropes and that will be enough. Anyway, our Song Dynasty is prosperous enough and is the Celestial Empire."
"Because if our Song Dynasty does not continue to 'grow', those barbarians in other places, those areas you cannot see, will suddenly change themselves, claiming to be civilized, and come to trample on our Chinese territory and eat the flesh and blood of our descendants of Yan and Huang." Lu Sen laughed, his voice a little cold: "This may take hundreds of years, you can't see it. But if we don't make progress and grow, one day, our descendants will encounter this problem. By then, it is common sense that the land of China will reappear the Five Barbarians' invasion of China."
When everyone heard this, their faces turned pale.
They had all read in books how brutal the Five Barbarians' Invasion of China was.
"Merchants are so important?" Yan Shu couldn't help but say, "Throughout history, I have never seen a despicable person prosper the country."
Hearing this, Lu Sen couldn't help laughing twice: "In ancient times, the emperors implemented the system of abdication, and the capable ones took over. But now it's a family empire. Who is despicable and who is noble?"
Yan Shu's face changed drastically.
The others also vaguely understood what Lu Sen meant.
"From now on, it will be the era of merchants' fortune." Lu Sen said calmly: "And the literati and military generals will play a role in stabilizing the country."
Everyone's faces turned very ugly, except Bao Zheng who looked relatively normal.
He was quite familiar with Lu Sen and often heard Lu Sen say "shocking" things.
He didn't believe it at first, but many of the words have been verified, and for some of the others, he felt they made sense after thinking about them for a long time.
Lu Sen thought for a moment and said, "If one day a loom that can spin dozens of pieces of cloth a day appears, it will be the time when the merchants' fortunes will come."
When the others heard this, they all laughed.
There are looms nowadays, which are indeed more efficient than hand weaving, but the efficiency is still limited, and they take up a lot of space. It is amazing to weave one piece of cloth in three days, let alone dozens of pieces of cloth in a day.
But Wang Anshi's face suddenly changed. He took a step forward and said, "A few days ago, a weaver girl in Suzhou made a machine that could weave 20 pieces of cloth a day."
Everyone was stunned, and then felt cold all over.
Lu Sen burst into laughter.
Capitalism in the Northern Song Dynasty officially began to take root.
It was much earlier than he had imagined, perhaps it was related to the recent 'social stability' and the recent 'immortal rice'.
Only when people are well fed and well watered and society is stable, will the speed of progress in these "technological" areas be greatly accelerated.
Bao Zheng was in a daze for a while, then he clasped his fists and said, "Master Lu, please come to the court and pay your respects to me, Prime Minister..."
Fu Bi also came back to his senses, clasped his fists and said, "Master Lu, please pay your respects to me."
The others also reacted at the same time, and they all clasped their fists and bowed, shouting in unison: "Master Lu, please pay your respects."
Lu Sen stood up and shook his head: "Prefect Bao, I told you that the world is a mundane world and has nothing to do with me. Besides, I have more important things to deal with."
After that, Lu Sen took out the aircraft from the system backpack and jumped in: "Gentlemen, Lu will go first, goodbye."
