"Prime Minister, what's the matter?"

"Your Majesty, I looked at the taxation a few days ago. I think the taxation is unreasonable. The people cannot bear the taxation and there are many displaced people. I think the taxation should be lowered to support the people. The right way is to make the country rich and the people strong."

After Xie Ji said this, the whole audience was in an uproar and felt unbelievable.

How could Xie Ji have such an idea? You must know that Xie Ji was a legalist before, but he was not a complete legalist.

Xie Jike's views are a bit more extreme than those of the Legalists.

What does Legalism pursue?

Is it just about governing the country according to the law? No, this is just one aspect.

On the other hand, the people are treated as leeks. To be a king, all you have to do is trample the people under your feet.

There is no need to pay attention to what the people think, just fool the people.

It is believed that as long as the people cultivate the fields, they will not behave in a way that threatens the ruler's rule.

What Xie Ji particularly likes is the article about the weak people in "The Book of Shang Jun".

If the people are weak, the country will be strong, and if the country is strong, the people will be weak. Therefore, a righteous country must weaken the people. Simplicity will make it strong, and immorality will make it weak. Weakness will lead to the track, and immorality will lead to ambition. Weakness will make it useful, and ambition will make it strong. Therefore, it is said:

Use the strong to defeat the strong, and you become weak; use the weak to defeat the strong, and you become strong.

That is to say, when the people are strong and rich, the country will be weak; when the people are weak, the country will be strong. If the country wants to be strong, it must weaken the people, which means to step on the people hard and rub them on the ground, making the people poorer.

, the country becomes stronger and stronger.

Therefore, Xie Ji did not intend to let the people live a good life from the beginning, so he governed the country with harsh government and heavy laws.

If the people have surplus food, then that's fine. That will only increase the trend of arrogance and extravagance. It's no good, it has to be banned. Under Xie Ji's harsh rule, the goal is finally achieved. It's good that the people can have something to eat. I still want to have it.

If you have enough food left, just dream.

Moreover, Xie Ji also believed that people should not be led away by the people. Go to hell with the people's hearts. People's hearts are the most unreliable things. He believed that the people were easily tempted. As long as they had a little food, they could sell themselves to others for glory. There was no point in doing so.

Ambition is not reliable at all, so severe punishments must be used to punish them.

I believe that the common people are just lambs waiting to be slaughtered. They must not be allowed to gain power. Once they gain power, they will rebel and threaten the status of the rulers. Therefore, they must be kept impoverished in order to maintain social stability.

Only then can the world be at peace.

To govern the people with great importance is to let them see the authority of the law and the authority of the ruler, so that they will not dare to infringe upon their superiors at will.

Make the people happy, well fed and clothed, and they will have the leisure to pursue other things. Once they pursue other things, they will start to learn to be smart. Once they become smart, they will not be easy to deceive.

Once they are difficult to deceive, you will no longer be able to control them. Once you cannot control them, they will begin to threaten the stability of society.

Therefore, they must be suppressed to death.

Once they are poor, they will be able to keep to themselves and not think about other things, and they will farm hard, so that there will be more food production land. Once there is more food production land, they will start to indulge in life, and they will

If you are not at ease with your duty, if you are not at ease with your duty, you will cause trouble.

Therefore, we must collect more taxes so that they can still breathe and continue to farm, and everything else must be plundered. Only in this way can they keep their peace, work hard, and not think about other things.

Therefore, we must pursue the policy of obscuring the people and use a two-pronged approach to control the people so that they cannot easily access poetry and books, because once they come into contact with poetry and books, they will be confused by those poetry and books, and then they will criticize the government and the emperor.

.

Therefore, Yuan Shen raised the price of those poetry books, more than a hundred times higher than before. If those people didn't even know the words, how could they be familiar with the poetry books?

Xie Ji also believed that making people poor would not only make them more able to behave themselves, but also make them more respectful to officials.

Because of their low status, these common people do not dare to be disrespectful to officials, so they can understand the dignity of officials. Because they have no money, they will burst into tears of gratitude once officials give small favors to the people.

Adding icing on the cake is not as good as giving timely assistance. It is precisely because of this that we cannot make the people rich. Once they are rich, more rewards must be used to satisfy them. Once they are poor, a bushel of rice can bribe them. It is precisely because of this that we cannot make them rich.

, leaving them with nothing.
Chapter completed!