The people are rich and the country is strong, and the country is rich and the people are strong. These two words seem to be close to each other, but in fact, there is a world of difference between the two.

First of all, "the country is rich and the people are strong". This is a widely circulated word in the Wei Dynasty today. It is based on "country" and emphasizes that the definition of "country" is placed before "country", and what kind of existence does "country" exist?

"Country" is the country, and it is the foundation of the ancestors of the Ji family's Zhao royal family. The so-called emperor and country are not separated. In the Great Wei Dynasty, the emperor is the country, and the country is the country of the Great Wei Dynasty.

This sentence is in line with the national conditions of the Great Wei Dynasty today, "country-oriented" and "loyalty to the emperor and patriotism".

The saying "The people are rich and the country is strong" is exactly contrary to the previous sentence. Although literally speaking, "If the people are stable and prosperous, the country can be strong", the problem is that it puts "people" first, before the Great Wei country and the Emperor of the Great Wei, its true meaning is "people-oriented".

This involves political will. You should know that today, whether it is the Great Wei or other countries, the national system is "country-oriented", and the country and the emperor are the first, which is the "loyalty" advocated by Confucianism. However, the saying "the people are rich and the country is strong" defines the state system as "people-oriented", and puts people's livelihood before the imperial power. This is to the left of the imperial power ruling idea. In other words, this sentence has made political and ideological mistakes in the current Great Wei.

It is no exaggeration to say that fortunately the person who proposed this sentence was Zhao Hongrun, the eighth son of Zhao Yuanwei, the emperor of the Great Wei Dynasty. Otherwise, if an ordinary scholar proposed this sentence, it would be amazing.

Because of this, the three officials of the Secretariat, He Xiangxi, the Secretariat Left Chief Lin Yuyang, and the Secretariat Right Chief Yu Ziqi, dare not speak out loudly. Look at me, I look at you, look like you are secretive.

Perhaps they were still guessing in their hearts whether this sentence would come from the mouth of a young scholar who had just embarked on a career in the officialdom, because only those new and passionate scholars would rebelliously ignore the noble imperial power because of their youth and put the upper hand at the grassroots level first. Until several years have passed and they struggled in the officialdom, they would gradually realize that the meaning of the existence of these officials was not to benefit the people, but to assist the imperial power to rule the people of this country.

It is precisely because of the clear understanding of all this that no one of the three ministers of the Secretariat dared to speak.

Seeing this, the old eunuch Tong Xian whispered to Zhao Yuanxi: "Your Majesty, if you don't tell the truth, I'm afraid the three adults will not dare to talk about this matter in detail."

Seeing that Tong Xian spoke with a relaxed tone, the Secretary of the Central Committee moved He Xiangxu, thinking that if it was really from the mouth of an arrogant scholar, Tong Xian's tone would never be so relaxed.

This is a guiding light!

However, He Xiangxu still needs to ask: "Your Majesty, I don't know who this sentence comes from?"

In fact, the Emperor of Wei also understood the truth, but he did not expect that even the three ministers of the Secretariat whom he trusted the most were secretive about this.

He smiled and explained, "It is what my eighth son, Hongrun, said."

When the three ministers of the Secretariat breathed a sigh of relief when they heard it was what the prince said, they felt relieved and thought that since it was the prince's point of view, there would be no political problem in this sentence.

The expressions of the three ministers were all seen by the Emperor of Wei, and he cursed with a smile: "I am just asking casually, look at you, you are all timid. Why do you know, you are still twenty years older than me."

He Xiangxu, the Secretary of the Central Committee, was not concerned at all when he heard this, and blinked his eyes and said humorously: "As the saying goes, the older a person lives, the less courage it is. The old minister is over 60 years old. His courage is like rice grains, and he can't stand the fright. Your Majesty doesn't know that the old minister's heart just now is pounding."

After hearing this, the Emperor of the Great Wei laughed: "You old man, you were a brave master when you were young, so I don't believe it."

The king and his ministers were joking happily, and as they spoke, they shifted the topic to the saying "The people are rich and the country is strong". This time, the three ministers of the Secretariat had no worries and started a discussion.

Lin Yuyang, the left chief of the Secretariat, took the lead in saying: "Apart from anything else, I think that what the Eighth Highness said is "the people are rich and the country are strong" is indeed a strategy to strengthen the country and the people. A country's strength depends first on military military force, that is, the military force. How to evaluate the military force? One should look at the training of soldiers and the other. ... The military of our Great Wei Dynasty has been expensive in the past dynasties. Where does this money come from? Taxation is taxed! And taxes are taken from the people. If the people are rich, the taxes will naturally be smooth and the national treasury will be full, so you can naturally give out a large amount of money to support the army. On the contrary, if the people cannot even eat, how can you pay taxes? If there is no tax and the national treasury is difficult, how can the Ministry of Revenue get money to support the army?"

The Emperor of the Great Wei Dynasty deeply agreed that taxation is the foundation of the country, which is well-known.

But how to make the people rich?

Yu Ziqi, the right chief of the Secretariat, seriously proposed a strategy: "Emphasize business!"

The Emperor of Wei frowned and said nothing.

The so-called emphasis on business means to strongly support the development of business in China and encourage them to sell local specialties to other places to earn the difference. But the problem is that the path of making money by business has been controlled by wealthy and powerful people from all over the ages. If Zhao Yuanwei strongly supports the development of business among the people, it will undoubtedly harm the interests of those wealthy and powerful people.

Behind the general wealthy and powerful people are almost all nobles, nobles, even royal princes, or upper class. The various problems and relationships involved during this period are complex and cannot be solved simply by proposing a national policy of "focusing on business".

As if seeing the concerns in the emperor's heart, Yu Ziqi whispered: "The wealth of our Great Wei is only a little, one is too much, and there are fewer ones, and this is the law of nature... I think the key to the problem is not the amount of wealth, but where these wealth are used. The so-called "rich people smell wine and meat, and the road is frozen to death. Some people have no food for the next meal, but some people can throw tens of taels of gold in brothels..."

"Cough!" The Central Secretariat Ling He Xiangxu's cough interrupted Yu Ziqi's overly radical words. After all, Yu Ziqi's words were targeted at the powerful class in the Great Wei Dynasty.

Yu Ziqi glanced at He Xiangxu, and realized that he had made up his words and did not continue to say anything.

From the side, Lin Yuyang saw that the topic was a bit heavy, so he hurriedly made up for it and said with a smile: "Mr. Yu is too cynical. That rich man who spent thousands of gold to make a beautiful woman smiled, which was also a good story for a while. He didn't want to be so unbearable in the mouth of Master Yu."

"Hmph!" Yu Ziqi, the right chief of the Secretariat, snorted lightly, and didn't say much.

The Emperor of the Great Wei listened silently. In fact, he had heard of what Yu Ziqi said, but the rich young men squandered their family wealth, and such things were not subject to the Emperor of the Great Wei. Furthermore, are there few similar things happening to the children of the royal family?

Two years ago, the princes of the two princes were just jealous of a brothel girl, and they lost all the faces of the Zhao royal family of the Great Wei Ji family?

"Your Majesty, the time is almost over, why not have a meal first?"

Next to him, the old eunuch Tong Xian saw that the Emperor of Wei was not in good looks, so he quickly changed the subject.

"Um." Zhao Yuanwei nodded.

Seeing this, Tong Xian sent someone to order to deliver meals.

Although he was the emperor of the Great Wei Dynasty, Zhao Yuanwei's daily meal was quite simple, with only a few dishes. Only during major festivals would he hold a banquet in the main hall and invite his ministers.

During the rest of the days, Zhao Yuanwei would basically order people to deliver the meals to the Chuigong Hall, including the meals of the three ministers of the Secretariat. Then the four monarchs and ministers would eat in the Chuigong Hall, and after the meal, they would go to the side hall next door to take a break, or just start the afternoon work and continue to approve the seals that will never be approved.

This is the daily life of the Emperor of the Great Wei Dynasty and the Ministers of the Secretariat.

However, after eating today, the Emperor of Wei had other thoughts.

"Where is Tong Xian, Hongrun's residence...?"

"Eighth Prince?" The old eunuch thought for a while and bowed and replied, "Nai Wen Zhao Pavilion."

"Who is serving?"

"Report to Your Majesty, there are twenty young eunuchs in Wenzhao Pavilion responsible for serving the eighth prince's living and cleaning matters in the hall. In addition, the clan government office has sent ten clan guards to serve as personal guards of the eighth prince, and a total of thirty people are regulated."

"Well." The Emperor of Wei nodded.

Although there are some princes who are favored and unpopular, the treatment specifications of princes before they leave the house are the same, which is the ancestral system.

"I want to go and have a look." Zhao Yuanwei stood up and said to the three ministers of the Secretariat with a smile: "Are you interested in going with me?"

Because there was a rest time after the meal, the three ministers of the Secretariat were also curious about the eighth son of the emperor, Hongrun, who proposed the word "the people are rich and the country is strong". Therefore, after the Emperor of the Great Wei Dynasty asked, the three ministers of the Secretariat expressed their willingness to go together.

So, the group set out from Wende Hall and slowly walked towards the Eighth Prince Hongrun's bedroom.

According to the ancestral system of the Great Wei Dynasty, the prince was only qualified to leave the palace after he was fifteen years old and was appointed as the king. From then on, in addition to his more noble life, he was no different from the ministers in the hall. Before he left, the prince's bedroom was placed in the garden in the Bianjing Palace. First, the scenery there was good, and second, it was closer to the Eastern Palace and the harem, which was convenient for contacting brothers and to enter the harem to pay homage to their concubines.

As for the third thing, it is that it is far away from the main hall of Bian Jing Palace, "Daqing Hall". After all, the Great Wei ancestral system clearly states that it is strictly forbidden for princes to contact any officials in the court before they leave their homes. Whether it is active or passive, as the emperor's sons, the princes should study hard in the palace and do not have to contact anything else.

It is worth mentioning that the princes' bedrooms have always been prohibited from resettling palace maids. First, it is to prevent the princes from losing their Tongyang when they are too young and affecting their normal development. Second, it is to prevent some improper palace maids from seducing young and ignorant princes in order to cling to.

Therefore, the princes who were not married were only surrounded by eunuchs and guards sent by the Zong Mansion, and the only woman they could see was their mother.

Therefore, the prince's life is actually not as good as the world imagines.

In about one stick of incense, the Emperor Zhao Yuanwei of the Great Wei Dynasty brought the old eunuch Tong Xian and three ministers of the Secretariat to Wenzhao Pavilion.

But when he looked up and saw the plaque in the attic, Zhao Yuanwei was stunned.

Because the engravings on the plaque are not Wenzhao Pavilion at all, but Xiaoyao Pavilion.

"Isn't it Wen Zhao Pavilion?" The Emperor of Wei looked at the eunuch Tong Xian who was leading the way in wonder.

In fact, Child Xian was also very puzzled at this moment, thinking that this place was obviously Wenzhao Pavilion, so why did it become Xiaoyao Pavilion?

"Old miss... I have never heard of Xiaoyao Pavilion in the palace..."

After Tong Xian said this, the Emperor of the Great Wei also felt strange. As the Emperor of the Great Wei, Zhao Yuanxi had never heard of any Xiaoyao Pavilion in the Bianjing Palace.

Thinking of this, the Emperor of the Great Wei waved to call the Lang Wei who was on duty in the corridor outside the hall and asked, "Is this Wenzhao Pavilion?"

The Langwei first bowed to the Emperor of the Great Wei Dynasty, and then replied respectfully: "Report to Your Majesty, this is Wenzhao Pavilion."

"Then this is..." Zhao Yuanwei pointed at the plaque on Wen Zhao Pavilion in confusion.

The Langwei smiled bitterly and said hesitantly: "When you say to Your Majesty, the Eighth Highness thinks the 'Wen Zhao Pavilion' is not good, so he ordered the Ministry of Works to carve a plaque of 'Xiaoyao Pavilion' and replace it..."

The Emperor of the Great Wei frowned when he heard this, thinking that the palaces and lofts in the Bianjing Palace were ordered by the previous emperor, so how could they be changed without authorization?

"There is no rules!" Zhao Yuanxi hummed in dissatisfaction and ordered: "You go and inform me and say I'm here and ask the Eighth Prince to come out and pick you up!"

"This..." The Lang Wei was embarrassed when he heard this: "Your Majesty, Your Highness is not in the cabinet..."

"Hmm?" Zhao Yuanxi was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized: "Is it because I went to the palace to study?"

"Uh, I probably don't have to be in the palace..."

"Well? Could it be that I went to the harem to see his mother?"

“I’ve been there this morning…”

"Then where did he go?" The Emperor of Wei became more and more confused as he heard it. He thought to himself that since he was not in the palace school, nor in the place of her mother in the harem, nor in the Wenzhao Pavilion, if that's the case, where did Zhao Hongrun go?

At this moment, the Emperor of the Great Wei suddenly heard a noise coming from afar.

"I...I really flew up... Your Highness, Your Highness, I flew up..."

"Hahahaha, you guys have already pulled it..."

"Don't worry, Your Highness..."

The Emperor of Wei frowned. Who in his heart dared to make noise in the palace?

He followed the source of the sound, but unexpectedly, when he walked through the corner of the attic, he saw in shock a group of people gathered together in the palace square paved with bluestone bricks in the distance and laughed.

One of them is clearly the eighth son Zhao Hongrun, whom I met in Wende Hall this morning!

Looking up at the sky, Zhao Yuanwei was shocked to find that there was a strange bird floating in the air. Incredible that there was a person tied under the thing. Judging from the clothing, it should be the sect guard sent by the sect mansion to a prince.

"What strange thing is that that can make people fly in the air?"

The Emperor of the Great Wei was extremely surprised and walked behind the people quietly.

Zhao Yuanxi noticed that the nine sect guards around his son Hongrun were pulling a thin rope in their hands, which was connected to the "strange bird" in the sky. If there was no mistake, the strange bird that could carry people should be able to fly in the air with the help of the wind.

"Cough!" Zhao Yuanwei raised his hand and coughed.
To be continued...