"Culture does not just refer to Confucianism, poetry, songs, and the like. Weichen believes that culture is the history, geography, customs, and traditional customs of a country or nation that are condensed in matter and free from matter.

, lifestyle, literature and art, behavioral norms, ways of thinking, values, etc., are a universally recognized ideology that can be passed down for communication among humans."

"The most important thing for a country or a nation is to have an independent spirit and culture. The citizens have a sense of national pride, a sense of identity with the country, and know who they are. This is the spiritual pillar of a country."

"In terms of culture, we Han people are much higher than the surrounding barbarians. According to the top-down transmission characteristics of culture, we, Zhao, have an advantage in this aspect."

"Now Dali admires our country's culture very much. From nobles to commoners, from etiquette to dress, they imitate our country Zhao in everything. I analyze that this is one of the main reasons why Dali and our country have had good relations for many years and there has been no war."

"The Liao Kingdom, Xixia, and Tufan are barbarian states. The people on horseback are extremely aggressive. How to restrain their aggression, I think we should start from the cultural perspective."

The emperor was very relaxed just now, but after listening to Qin Guan's words, he suddenly found that many things he had not understood before were figured out at this moment. He looked at Qin Guan and said solemnly: "Tell me what to do."

"It's Your Majesty."

"The reason why the Liao Kingdom is strong is because they have a strong army and because they are barbaric. If they are turned into civilized people, they will not do barbaric things. Culture affects thinking, thinking affects policy, and policy affects the general trend."

"So Wei Chen believes that we should vigorously export our culture, including poems and songs, various Confucian classics, and moral codes of etiquette, justice, integrity and shame. When they lose their martial spirit, will they still be able to defeat us?"

"The more important thing is to spread Buddhist scriptures to them."

A glimmer of light flashed in the emperor's eyes: "Tell me what economic war is."

Qin Guan replied: "Your Majesty, our country has trade relations with other countries, but please think about it, your Majesty, we can sell silk, fine wine, porcelain, and all kinds of exquisite things, but what do they have? The Liao Kingdom and Xixia only have cattle, sheep, and horses.

.”

"If this continues, we will have a huge economic surplus. Wei Chen understands that because our coins are exquisite and heavy, people in these countries are more willing to accept our coins than their own currencies."

"This is our advantage. If one day our currency drives out their own currencies, we will be invincible on the economic battlefield."

The emperor wondered: "Then our country will have less money. I don't see any benefit."

"Your Majesty, this is equivalent to us obtaining the right to issue currency from other countries, which can be said to have many benefits."

"If we control currency power, it is equivalent to controlling commodity pricing power in disguise. For example, if the Liao Kingdom sells us a horse for 20 guan, we can sell it to 19 guan. And if we export goods, such as silk and cloth, each price will be 19 guan.

A piece of cloth can increase your daily income, and this is a huge profit."

"For another example, we sell a large amount of cheaper and better goods to the Liao Kingdom, such as cloth, salt, books, porcelain, spices, silk, high-concentration wine, etc., which can be exchanged for their medicinal materials, furs, pearls, rams, and bulls

, stallions, etc., but their goods are obviously insufficient, so they need to supplement gold, silver, copper and other hard currencies."

"Your Majesty, think about it. If things go on like this, money in their country will be expensive and things will be cheap. This is our opportunity."

"Economic war cannot help but be like this. In extreme cases, it can cause the enemy's economy to collapse, such as the currency we issue."

"Banknotes are just paper printed matter, guaranteed by the imperial court. Now merchants in Liao and Xixia are also using banknotes. In fact, we can produce banknotes for foreign trade, but the regulations are that they can only be used abroad and cannot be used in this country.

If there is a real war between our country and other countries, you can directly declare the paper currency used for foreign trade to be invalid, which will greatly affect the economy of other countries and even prevent them from raising the money to launch a war."

Hearing this, the emperor's eyes brightened even more.

He likes calligraphy, painting, and poetry, but he likes money even more, because without money, the country cannot function, and without money, he cannot have fun. This is why he reuses Zeng Yu, because Zeng Yu's method of making money is indeed

First in the world.

Qin Guan's words were something he had never thought of before. They were very fresh, but he felt they were of great practical value.

This caused him to have a collision of ideas. In fact, it was not just what Qin Guan said. The emperor thought of more.

Isn't the purpose of imperial examinations to find talents for the country? What is talent? The emperor felt that the Qin Guan in front of him was talent.

"Go down," the emperor said.

Qin Guan saluted and said goodbye. Li Chaoen sent Qin Guan to the entrance of the imperial garden and said to Qin Guan with a smile: "It seems that I want to congratulate Mr. Qin this time."

"Thank you also, father-in-law."

Qin Guan said thanks and took Li Chaoen's arm at the same time. Their sleeves were folded together. Qin Guan took out a string of exquisite pearl necklaces from the space. His hand slipped and the necklace fell into Li Chaoen's clothes.

In the sleeves.

Li Chaoen called a young eunuch and ordered him to send Qin Guan back. He nodded to Qin Guan with a smile and turned back to the imperial garden.

Touching the pearl necklace the size of a fingertip in his sleeve, Li Chaoen murmured to himself: "If you are talented, knowledgeable, discerning, and know how to behave, this boy will have a bright future."

Qin Guan was taken outside the Golden Palace again. The candidates were still working hard to answer questions, but Qin Guan could not leave and could only continue to wait in a daze beside the pillars.

Lu Sheng, the Minister of Rites, watched Qin Guan being called away, and then saw him being sent back by the young eunuch. This period actually lasted an hour. What did the emperor have to say? After talking to a new subject candidate for so long, Lu Sheng's mind was spinning.

, extremely curious in his heart, but could he call Qin Guan to ask?

Finally, Lu Sheng let out a breath, forget it, don't think about this anymore, now Qin Guan's matter is beyond his control, he can just tell Xianggong Zeng about it when he goes back.

The palace examination did not end until the sun set in the west. The candidates wore tribute robes and left the palace directly. As for the results of the palace examination, they will be announced tomorrow.

Lu Sheng and another examiner reviewed the seventy-five palace examination papers as quickly as possible, then ranked them and submitted them to the emperor overnight.

As for the final ranking, it is up to the emperor to decide.

When Qin Guan returned home, Qin Zhang nervously called Qin Guan to the study room and asked in a hasty tone: "You only took half an hour to hand in the paper today?"

"Yes father."

"Why do this."

"Because if you don't do this, you won't be able to see His Majesty."

"What, you met His Majesty."

"Yes, Your Majesty and I chatted for nearly an hour."

Qin Zhang was extremely surprised. He had been an official for so long and was a fifth-rank official in the imperial court. Except for the imperial gatherings, he rarely saw the emperor, let alone met the emperor alone and chatted for such a long time.

"What did your Majesty say to you?"

"Discuss poetry and policy essays."

"Your Majesty liked your article."
Chapter completed!