Volume 5: Overlord of the Sea Chapter 533: Enlightenment
"Your Majesty, I request... to use the profits from Chu goods to build warships and workshops. At the same time, prohibit Chu goods not included in the agreement from entering Xichuan, or collect additional taxes. This will not only deter Jingchu, but also resolve the disaster of the Southern Barbarians without fighting!" Zhang Song offered advice to Liu Zhang.
Zhang Song’s proposal is more of a general policy than a “strategy”.
The intention was to fundamentally alleviate the situation in which Liu Zhang and some of the great aristocratic families profited from the "middleman" economy, and instead use the convenience of Chu goods to gather the people's strength, develop Yizhou's own workshops, and gradually reverse the situation.
In this way, setting up workshops also requires manpower, and the "unemployment" caused by the collapse of the Shu brocade and well salt industries will be alleviated, and naturally the root cause of the invasion of the southern barbarians will also be alleviated.
The current invasion of the southern barbarians is due, on the one hand, to the fact that the Chu State is promoting the "Chu Learning New South Construction" in the south, causing some dissatisfied southern tribes to move north; on the other hand, the big tribes in the southern part of Xichuan, whose interests have been damaged, have joined forces with the southern barbarians, causing chaos in one area and attempting to secede and govern themselves...
If the profits from the Chu goods in the agreement were used to develop itself, at least the conflict would be weakened a lot. At the same time, the unbridled influx of Chu goods outside the agreement could be restricted, leaving room for development for Yizhou's own workshops... In fact, Yizhou is not without a chance to turn the tables!
Zhang Song actually felt a little regretful. After all, it was he who proposed to Liu Zhang that the Chu goods imported through the agreement with the State of Chu be distributed to other aristocratic families as "benefits" in order to win over a part of them and stabilize Xichuan.
The result was a chain reaction...
We can't blame Zhang Song for being short-sighted. After all, this scene had never happened before. With the theoretical level of economics at that time... if one could understand and thoroughly grasp "Guan Zi", he would already be considered a famous minister in the way of business.
I have never seen such fancy tricks of the Chu State!
At least Zhang Song saw from the beginning that the influx of Chu goods would cause harm to all classes of people in Yizhou, including scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans. It was a pity... he was still bound by the times and only wanted to patch things up, thus missing the opportunity to set things right from the beginning.
Now the Chu State's skills are still improving , the gap in productivity is widening, and after seeing the successful example of the Wei State, it gradually wakes up.
After all, no matter how things change, they still remain essentially the same. When Zhang Song realized that something was wrong, he traced the source of the problem. Although he did not understand too many principles, he vaguely found the problem.
Unfortunately, Zhang Song's proposal received few responses.
There is no shortage of people and nobles in Yizhou who want to develop workshops in a down-to-earth manner - in fact, according to the logic of the aristocratic families, this should be the right way!
Twenty years ago, the noble families valued the land and the classic heritage. Isn’t the workshop of today the land of that time, and isn’t the craftsmanship of today the classic heritage of that time?
When did the noble families degenerate to the point of abandoning their foundations in order to pursue illusory interests?
All I can say is...
It was Liu Zhang's bold move at the beginning, coupled with the deliberate instigation of the State of Chu, which stunned the gentry in Xichuan, and made them run in the wrong direction after they "woke up".
There is actually another fundamental reason...
Among the important officials in power in Yizhou Prefecture, a large number were outsiders who had entered Yizhou with Liu Yan, with Wu Yi being the chief among them.
These outsiders had only been in Yizhou for twenty years and had not yet completely taken root, so they were naturally more concerned with profit rather than roots. Even their external interests were not entirely consistent with those of the Yizhou gentry.
Inspired by this group of people, some of the Yizhou gentry also became "restless".
The fact that Zhang Song was still able to get the support of Zheng Du, Huang Quan, and some of the aristocratic families behind him at this time showed that the ancestral wisdom of the Chinese aristocratic families had not been completely lost.
However, now even Wu Yi, a key official in Xichuan, is enjoying his job as a "middleman", so naturally he would not have much support, and even brought a lot of criticism to Zhang Song.
Finally, Wu Yi stood up and said something "fair", asking both sides to take a step back and increase the tax revenue from the agency of Chu goods to be used for the war in the south.
The dispute has been temporarily settled, but... it is only a temporary solution and not a fundamental solution.
At the same time, in Huang Quan's mansion, his eldest son Huang Chong had completely accepted the enlightenment of the "Enlightenment Department" and recognized that the ultimate goal of the Chu State was to "unify the eight wildernesses and six directions, and make the four good people as one."
When promoting Chu learning to the people within the Chu State, or when inciting the lower classes, such as the Han people, the focus was on "the four virtues being one", that is, the absolute equality of "scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans" as the ultimate ideal goal.
As for those outside the State of Chu and when persuading mid- and high-level targets, the Enlightenment Department, in addition to exporting the "Four Virtues as One", also had to persuade the targets to recognize that "the Eight Wildernesses and Six Directions" - that is, "the whole world" and "anywhere" - were all within the glory of Chu learning, and there was no distinction between friend and foe.
At this time, Huang Chong already believed that the State of Chu was truly for "everyone" and there was no need to worry too much that Yizhou would be "divided and eaten" after being incorporated into the State of Chu.
Indeed, it now seems that although the distribution of interests in Chu State is not completely equal, it is at least close to equality. The local gentry in Jingzhou are also catching up. The most important thing is that the gentry in Jingzhou... cannot be said to be suppressed.
As for being harvested in the short term, it is entirely due to strength reasons. After all, they started slowly.
At first, Huang Chong did not know that this Chu businessman, with whom he got along very well, was a member of the Chu State's confidential department, but now... he has naturally guessed it.
In order to allow Yizhou to be incorporated into the arms of Chu as soon as possible, Huang Chong began to use his identity openly and covertly to gather information and pave the way for other members of the Enlightenment Department in Yizhou. He also secretly tested his father's attitude and even tried to indirectly persuade Huang Quan.
The same thing was happening in Yizhou, throughout the Han Dynasty, and all over the world.
otherwise……
Huang Quan would not meet a Chu businessman either . Now Huang Quan could guess that the friend who introduced him to this "Chu businessman" and got to know him a few months ago might have already been enlightened, but he just knew it tacitly and didn't say it out loud.
Even at this time, in the front line of Xichuan to pacify the Southern Barbarians, Jianwei County was fighting against the coalition forces of the Southern Barbarians and the Yizhou County gentry. Meng Da, who was leading his own army and leading thousands of people to defend the city under the orders of the commander Zhang Ren, was also in contact with the "Enlightenment Department".
Moreover, in comparison, Meng Da cannot be considered to have been enlightened, but rather... he was simply instigated to rebel!
He simply relied on the influence of the Enlightenment Department deep within the enemy to make his own activities more convenient and also easier to contact Fa Zheng.
Meng Da was a fellow townsman and friend of Fa Zheng who came to Shu together. Like Fa Zheng, he was not very popular at first.
It was with the help of the Enlightenment Department that Meng Da was appreciated by Zhang Ren and had the opportunity to succeed - otherwise Meng Da would have gone to join his fellow villager Fa Zheng!
Now Meng Da wants to play a crucial role and make contributions when the situation changes, rather than just currying favor with others.
Unfortunately, there were also members of the Enlightenment Department who wanted to persuade Zhang Ren by using the relationship between Zhao Yun, Zhang Xiu and Zhang Ren, but they were directly beheaded by Zhang Ren to show their determination. Fortunately, Meng Da was not involved...
