Zhou Hong said: "The food in Changping Division is enough, but I am just in case. If there is a disaster and the price of food rises, Changping Division will have enough food to put on the market to stabilize the price. As for Prefect Zhou,

I have no knowledge of the loan mentioned."

Zhou Jiande said quickly: "Your Majesty, everything I say is true. Zhou Cang has put 80,000 coins here! I have accounts here, I have accounts!"

"Where are the accounts?"

"It's in the study at the back."

Zhao Ning signaled and ordered someone to take Zhou Jiande to get it.

Not long after, the account was retrieved.

Zhao Ning began to look carefully.

Naturally, Li Zhaoyan and Zhou Hong's money was not all given to Zhou Jiande at once.

The account records are still very clear. In what year and month, how much money was paid, how much interest income was, and in which counties and villages the money was paid are all written down clearly.

There are even some very cruel accounts, such as in Liujia Village, Xiangyang Prefecture, where Liu Erhe was forced to sell his wife and daughter to Yihong Mansion, Xiangyang Prefecture, in exchange for 100 guan as repayment because he could not repay the interest on time.

There are also some accounts for dividends.

Of course, more detailed accounts also include the price at which landlords and merchants like Guo Rong sold grain, the price at which the government openly bought grain, and how much was recorded in the official accounts, and how much was put into the officials' pockets.

Zhao Guanjia glanced at Li Zhaoyan coldly and said: "Li Zhaoyan, your memorial is still in my Wende Hall. You have written letters repeatedly to express the sufferings of the people. All the princes in the court said that you are the pillar of the country. If I hadn't personally

When you come to Xiangyang Mansion, I think you are really a good official who cares about the country and the people!"

He looked at Zhou Jiande again and said: "The tax reductions and exemptions in your memorial, are they tax reductions for the common people, or tax reductions for landlords and gentry?"

At the beginning of the birth of class, an insurmountable gap began to form between people's status.

During the era of slavery, slave owners stipulated in the most direct way that slaves were their private property.

Killing a slave is no different from killing a chicken.

When the population and productivity reached a certain stage, the emperor and the princes needed enough tax revenue and military strength, so slavery began to disintegrate.

The most typical example is the rise of Zhao after the three families were divided into Jin.

Free peasants owned land and became taxpayers in princely states, kingdoms and empires.

When war came, the emperors of classical empires began to mobilize these free peasants to fight for the empire.

The empire of the classical era was full of princes, kings, aristocratic families and powerful men.

For example, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, tycoons kept peasants in manors and raised them, and the farmers moved to other areas, which undoubtedly increased the strength of other tycoons.

Anyone who dares to cross the boundaries of the manor without a competition agreement can be sentenced to death.

Powerful people not only have the means of production, but also control public opinion.

Hao Qiang said that the night is white, then the night is white.

Farmers are the production tools of the powerful. The only function of the production tools is to create wealth for the powerful. When necessary, they can also be sent to the battlefield as cannon fodder.

Later, the imperial power of the empire continued to expand, and the powerful and aristocratic families disappeared with the demise of the Tang Dynasty.

Entering the Song Dynasty, local forces in the new era no longer had independent military, financial and judicial power, and could not directly control farmers according to their own wishes.

As a result, a new way of "feeding" emerged.

In this era when land annexation is not curbed, landlords only need to continue to devour land and turn farmers into tenants, so that they can control the land rent.

Then the rent is set at a precisely calculated position so that the tenants will never have any surplus of the food they have hoarded, or in other words, it will be all eaten in April or May of the next year.

At this time, the tenants either starved to death or borrowed money.

So the landowners started lending money.

Under the new imperial framework, these labor forces will continue to be forcibly bound for their own use.

The powerful aristocratic families are gone, and the empire's legal system has become more complete.

However, exploitation and control never disappeared, they just became slightly more subtle.

That's all.

Zhou Jiande said: "I am guilty!"

Li Zhaoyan also said: "I am guilty, but I have something to say."

"you say."

"The money I placed with the prefect of Zhou belongs to me. The money is not corrupt. It is borrowed from the private sector and does not violate the laws of the imperial court. Although the imperial court stipulates that it cannot exceed double the amount, triple interest is common in the Song Dynasty.

yes."

"So, what do you want to explain?"

"The law does not punish everyone!" Li Zhaoyan said boldly, "The court should consider why everyone in the world triples interest."

Zhou Hong on the side also said: "I think Li Cao is right. I have not violated the laws of the Song Dynasty. Your Majesty can send the Su Provincial Yuan to inspect your accounts, or even the Auditing Yuan. Your money belongs to you."

Yes, there is no corruption. However, triple interest is common in the world. It is not the fault of the minister. The court should consider why triple interest is common in the world."

Seeing Li Zhaoyan and Zhou Hong defending themselves here, Zhao Ning just asked coldly: "The imperial court stipulates that interest cannot be doubled. Why is the interest rate tripled in the world? Come and tell me the reason."

Li Zhaoyan said: "Your Majesty, the rich and the poor help each other! There are longitudes and latitudes in the sky and the earth, ravines and ravines in the mountains and rivers, and they are not uniform! If there are poor people, there will naturally be rich people. The imperial court should not interfere too much in private business!"

Zhou Hong even said: "Your Majesty, why did Wang Jiefu's Green Crops Law fail? When the people were in poverty, they really needed food and money to survive, but the government was worried that they could not repay it and was unwilling to lend money and food to the poor. However,

Private lending is not the case. Private businessmen are not worried. They are willing to lend money to the poor to solve their problems..."

"Shut up!" After hearing this, Zhao Guan's family couldn't bear it anymore.

Another official flaunted the theory of "Weiqi is not Qi" in front of him.

Grass has grown on the graves of Li Chunyou, Wang Shoude and others who were talking about sages last time.

Li Zhaoyan's so-called "rich and poor mutually support each other" refers to the wealthy private people subsidizing the poor, which is opposite to Wang Anshi's government loans that "make a profit".

This rotation received strong support from Han Qi, Sima Guang and others.

The idea of ​​mutual aid between the rich and the poor is naturally a good one, with rich people helping poor people.

However, this kind of gameplay is disguised as "the rich help the poor", but in fact it is to ask the court not to interfere.

Say something that people in the 21st century can understand: Absolutely free capital!

Let’s talk more in writing: the ancient prototype of Hayekism.

Rely on the rich to take the initiative to help the poor?

Will the rich take the initiative to help the poor?

The rich will only exploit the poor even more!

"Businessmen are willing to lend money to the poor to solve their problems?" Zhao Guanjia angrily threw the account book at Zhou Hong's face, "Then how did Liu Erhe in this account book be forced to sell his wife and daughter because he could not pay back the interest?

!”

"After two days of studying, you are talking nonsense in front of me! The reason why the rich dare to lend money to the poor is because they dare to tear off their dignity and force the people to sell their blood and cut their flesh! How can the court do this!"

Before Zhou Hong could continue, Zhao Guanjia continued to curse: "A bunch of beasts in human skins! I'm here to tell you why the world triples the interest rate! It's just because the imperial court is not strict in punishing you, so today I will wait for you with the sword in my hand!"
Chapter completed!