"Hu Ben, I will send Doctor Ziqi and Mr. Sun Bin back to the inn to avoid bumps."

"Yes!... two, please."

"If you have any work, you have some work. Doctor Liang, Doctor Fan, the eldest son, then I will say goodbye first. Let's talk about it tomorrow..."

"Okay, be careful on the way."

“Be careful on the road.”

Watching Hu Ben's carriage carrying Tian Ji, Sun Bin and the two guards gradually drift away. Li He, Wang Yi and Fan Hu turned back to the latter's doctor's residence, and then in the study, Li He told the two of them about his plan to "borrow loans from Qi State".

"Borrow loans? Do you borrow money from Qi State?"

Fan Hu, who was only five or sixty minutes drunk, had no less reaction than usual. After hearing Li He's plan, he looked puzzled on his face: "Why?"

Li He explained: "The rationing system is not a long-term solution..."

Since the Battle of Shaoliang to this day, Shaoliang has adopted the "raiser system" proposed by Li He. Simply put, it is to mobilize the labor and production of military and civilians across the country, allocate the types of jobs by the government, and distribute grain to each household according to the population. It is a model of "same farming and food, same work and food", which is somewhat similar to the "well-field system" that stripped away the privileges of the nobles.

It is undeniable that this rationing system effectively allowed Shaoliang to survive the difficult period when the materials were most scarce after the war with Qin, and to the greatest extent guaranteed the post-war construction of Shaoliang. Even Moliang disciples highly praised this, because this "well-field system" that stripped away the privileges of the nobles ensured distribution according to work and equality for everyone. It was like returning to the Yao and Shun period, and I wished to keep it on.

But Li He knew that this seemingly equal rationing system was actually unfair and contrary to social development.

The Mohist thoughts are actually very similar to another social ideological model in Li He’s memory. Both of these thoughts do not advocate individual struggle, but rather collective struggle. However, it cannot be denied that people are born with selfishness. Blindly emphasizing collective interests actually harms the interests of individual outstanding individuals.

To give the simplest example, an excellent Shaoliang soldier can sneak into any city to assassinate any person. A thousand such Shaoliang soldiers can make such a great country as Qin and Wei feel afraid and dare not invade Shaoliang. This is equivalent to protecting Shaoliang 300,000 soldiers and civilians in disguise. Do you want to force such a sharp soldier to be equal to a fisherman in Shaoliang?

For example, the skilled craftsmen of Mo Zhuanju, the rapid development of Shao Liang in the past two years is inseparable from them. Do you want to force such skilled craftsmen to be equal to farmers?

Although the skilled craftsmen in the Mo Bureau are basically either Mo family disciples or newly-received Mo family disciples and do not pay attention to personal profits, in Li He's opinion, this is not the reason why Shao Liang ignored his treatment - how can he take the dedication of these people for granted?

I remember that a long time ago, Li He debated with Mo Jian about the issues of "public ownership" and "private ownership". Among them, "public ownership" protects the interests of most ordinary people, while "private ownership" protects the interests of a few outstanding people. The state and the government can regulate the proportion of the latter, but it must not be erased. Otherwise, not only will the entire society be deformed, but it will also persuade those real talents to abandon Shaoliang and defect to other countries.

After all, as the saying goes, people go to high places and water flows to low places, and people cannot ignore these objective laws.

After a debate, Li He successfully convinced Liang Mo's disciples headed by Mo Jian, making them acknowledge the existence of "private ownership". At the same time, Liang Mo's disciples also realized that the collapse of the well-field system is a major trend in social development, and the "raiser system" similar to the well-field system will eventually collapse on one day.

It may be three years, or five years, as Shaoliang survived the difficult period of material shortage, gradually became prosperous. The soldiers and the people who were initially satisfied with the rationing system will eventually become dissatisfied with this system.

Although there has not been such a sign yet, Li He believes that he, Shaoliang, should have gradually made changes, slowly banned the rationing system, and adopted a more flexible social distribution method.

This new distribution method is the salary system.

Whether it is military soldiers, craftsmen, or fishermen, the state formulates remunerations for most domestic jobs and occupations, and seeks fairness as much as possible while ensuring equality, and does not give up the interests of most ordinary people, but also takes care of the interests of a few outstanding people.

The problem is that if you use the salary system to replace the rationing system, a large number of "private ownership" will inevitably appear quickly.

For example, the salary of generals such as Zheng Hou and Hua Jia must be far more than the family's living needs. If Shaoliang uses grain instead of salary, then after a year and a half, these people's homes will be full of food. Ordinary people may only obtain the food they need for their lives, which will cause some of the resources to be effectively utilized unless Shaoliang opens the market and allows free trading.

It is not difficult to open the market and allow free trading. Dongliang should be built, which is actually a sign of opening the market. The most critical problem is that Shaoliang does not have its own currency. The currencies circulating in Shaoliang were basically copper coins from the Wei State.

To open up the market, it is necessary to mint the country's currency.

Of course, it is not difficult to mint coins themselves. The skilled craftsmen of the Mozambique can easily mint Shaoliang's own currency. The key is that after these copper coins are minted, there is no material linked to them. If a large amount of money is minted, the money circulating on the market cannot buy anything, Li He will know what the result will be.

So, can we get a large amount of materials from where to make Shaoliang mint a batch of money according to its value and promote the process of gradually replacing the rationing system?

The visit of Qi envoy Tian Ji made Li He target the rich and prosperous Eastern power, Qi!

The more than a hundred vassal states were enfeoffed by the Zhou State, and there were only a dozen or twenty countries left today. Among them, Qi State was definitely the most prosperous and richest country. As early as when Guan Zhong was the prime minister of Qi, Qi State determined that agriculture, industry and business were the three treasures of the country and vigorously developed trade with neighboring countries and regions. "The merchants in the world return to Qi as if they were flowing water", "Qi Guan and wear clothes to the world", all these are all about Qi State.

This wealthy country is entirely possible to provide Shaoliang with a loan, and it is a large loan, as long as Shaoliang can persuade Qi.

"But...how to persuade Qi State?"

After listening to Li He's story, Fan Hu frowned and asked, because he was worried that Shaoliang could not bring any benefits to Qi. Since that is the case, how could Qi strongly support Shaoliang?

"some."

Li He said seriously: "My Shaoliang can make Qi profit, and the land is between Qin and Wei. This is both a dangerous obstacle for me, Shaoliang, but also an opportunity."

"You mean..."

Thinking of South Korea's attitude towards him, Shao Liang, Fan Hu's heart moved slightly, and then he became excited.

The next morning, Tian Ji and Sun Bin woke up early in the inn. After washing up, they held the tea bowl and talked about yesterday's banquet.

Just as Sun Bin said, showing his sharpness is Shao Liang's way of survival. Although Tian Ji had a little unhappy with Li He at the beginning, after Tian Ji took the initiative to lower his posture, he felt that Li He and others also lifted the sharp thorns.

Of course, what impressed Tian Ji the most was the dozen at first glance at the dinner yesterday, such as the crispy and delicious dish that was fried. Tian Ji still clearly remembers the crispy crunch in his mouth, which was simply excellent delicacy when used to serve wine.

There is also the smooth and unscathed tofu, although it is tasteless and needs to be combined with sauce, but the tender and smooth taste still makes Tian Ji miss it.

"It is said that the thing called tofu is made by grinding beans and brine, which is really amazing..."

Not to mention that Tian Ji has also been on missions to various countries over the years, but he has been used to seeing beans and so on in Qi, but he has never heard of this way of eating it, it is really delicious.

Seeing Tian Ji praise yesterday's dishes, Sun Bin reminded him with some amusement and laughter: "Lord, we are waiting for Shaoliang to promote the alliance between Shaoliang and our Qi State..."

"Oh, yes, yes, allies."

Tian Ji woke up from a dream and nodded repeatedly.

So he immediately ordered the guards to prepare a carriage and took Sun Bin and others to Fan Hu's residence.

At this time, Fan Hu was dealing with the county government in the front yard of the residence. From time to time, he thought about the "borrowing from Qi" that Li He had proposed to him last night, and wondered when he would invite Tian Ji to the banquet and discuss the loan in person. Then a minor official in the residence hurriedly reported: "Doctor, Qi sent Tian Ji to ask for a meeting."

“Hmm?”

Fan Hu looked at the sky outside the window and was very surprised that Tian Ji had come to visit him so early.

"Go and see if Doctor Ziliang and the eldest son are awake. Tell them about this matter with them. I will go and welcome Tian Ji."

"yes!"

Soon, Fan Hu took a few minor officials and quickly walked out of the palace and saw Tian Ji standing next to a carriage outside the palace looking at the surrounding scenery.

"Doctor Ziqi?"

"Ha, Dr. Fan."

The two of them greeted each other, and then Fan Hu invited Tian Ji and Sun Bin, who had been sitting in the carriage, into the city residence.

After taking a sip of the little official served the tea, Tian Ji smiled and said to Fan Hu: "Yesterday, thanks to Doctor Fan's kind hospitality, Tian was immersed in the deliciousness of your country, and even forgot to bear the important task assigned by our king..."

"Ha ha."

Fan Hu guessed that Tian Ji was referring to the alliance between the two countries, and smiled and said, "My Shaoliang's dishes are in line with the taste of Doctor Ziqi. I am very honored... I have already ordered someone to invite Doctor Ziliang and the eldest son. When they come, I will discuss the important things that Doctor Quanziqi said, okay?"

"good!"

Of course, Tian Ji would not refuse, after all, Li He and Wang Yi were originally responsible for negotiating and forming an alliance with him.

Soon, Li He and Wang Yi talked together and greeted each other with Tian Ji and Sun Bin.

After a very nutritious chat, Tian Ji proposed the purpose of establishing a covenant on behalf of Qi and Shaoliang.

Hearing this, Li He and Fan Hu and Wang Yi looked at each other and said with a smile: "... I, Shaoliang, are deeply honored to be able to establish an alliance with Qi, but I think that your country and Shaoliang may be able to establish a deeper cooperation."

"More...sorry, what more?" Tian Ji asked in confusion.

Li He smiled and said bluntly: "Simply put, maybe your country can lend me Shaoliang some money to help me grow."

“…”

Tian Ji was slightly stunned, and looked at Li He with a slightly open mouth.

Sun Bin, who was beside him, only drinking tea without saying a word, turned his head and looked at Li He when he heard this.
Chapter completed!