The most arrogant in history

"I dare not." Gongsun Qishu sighed:

"On the contrary, I admire the emperor. I don't understand why the Chinese people have no complaints and are very happy after completing so many projects?"

Ye Kun smiled and said, "Go ask the sailors and craftsmen on our ship about their living conditions. Although we have a lot of projects, we are not in a hurry. We have fully guaranteed the health of the workers and civilians, as well as their wages."

The corvée labor today is actually very light.

Adult men were only required to perform corvee labor for one month each year, and usually stayed in their hometowns during the slack farming season to do small projects such as road construction or water conservancy projects.

It means that everyone works for themselves, and the court government just organizes it.

Ye Kun paid the laborers who were conscripted for large-scale projects and gave them normal holidays.

Only foreign laborers are free.

But life is not bad, there is medical insurance, cultural education, and it is not very tiring.

Compared with previous labor and military service, the burden on the people has been much lighter. What else can they complain about?

Gongsun Qishu nodded and asked, "Are the laborers who migrated from Goguryeo also paid?"

"It's not called Goguryeo now, it's called Donghua Peninsula."

Guan Bao corrected Gongsun Qishu's statement and explained:

"We have a unified rule for foreign workers. If you learn 500 Chinese characters, you will be considered a Chinese citizen. We will treat you equally and pay you the same for the same work. If you can't learn it, you will have to work for a few more years."

Gongsun Qishu nodded and sighed slightly.

They are all smart people, and he knows what Ye Kun means.

This means that they want to assimilate foreigners and erase the three words "Goguryeo" from their names forever.

Guan Bao added: "Our emperor is an eternal saint. He unified the nine provinces and in just a few years, he made sure that every household in the country could eat fine grains, drink meat soup, wear cotton clothes, and wear silk. The country had more food than it could eat, and more gold and honeysuckle than it could consume, piling up like mountains."

"You stole it." Gongsun Qishu couldn't help but retort.

"Mr. Gongsun, you can't say that."

Ye Kun chuckled: "Besides robbing, our business is also very profitable."

When it comes to robbing money, Ye Kun also did it.

Most of the wealth of Goguryeo and Jiaozhi went into Ye Kun's treasury.

Ye Kun also robbed a lot of the Huns' cattle, sheep, and gold sand.

But robbing money also has a cost. The money stolen is not enough to cover the expenses of fighting the war.

International trade, on the other hand, is where real money is made.

The wealth from the Western Regions, Rome, India, and Central Asian countries flowed in like water, exchanging Ye Kun's iron pots and porcelain, as well as various fine steel swords and guns.

Gongsun Qishu was no fool, he said with a sarcastic smile: "Your Majesty, you are also robbing when you do business, it just sounds better."

"I'd like to hear your opinion." Ye Kun was not angry.

"Then I will speak without restraint." Gongsun Qishu looked around:

"The emperor captured many Xiongnu, Jiaozhi, Xiqiang, Romans, and people from the Western Regions and forced them to dig iron and coal, burn glass and porcelain, and then sold the ironware, porcelain, and glass overseas at high prices. One pound of steel in exchange for one pound of silver, isn't this robbing money?"

"Sir, you misunderstood." Ye Kun rubbed his face and smiled:

"That's because our products are of good quality, so people are willing to spend money on them. In fact, I don't like gold and silver. The gold and silver in the treasury are already piled up like a mountain. Look, I have a boatload of gold and silver, ready to spend."

In just over a year, the national treasury's wealth has skyrocketed.

It is indeed a mountain of gold and silver.

The bronze ones are much more numerous and huge.

Sang Buyi has already ordered the closure of some small gold, silver and copper mines in the country, allowing workers to return home to engage in production, or be transferred to build roads and dig canals.

Because the development and refining of domestic gold and silver mines are not as fast and cheap as international trade!

Gongsun Qishu smiled and said, "I know what the emperor is going to do with the gold and silver in Jiaozhi."

"Guess what?"

"The emperor will buy up all the grain in Jiaozhi, which will cause a severe food shortage in Jiaozhi and a nationwide famine." Gongsun sighed:

"At that time, if the emperor had grain in his hands, he would be able to control the entire Jiaozhi area, and use grain as bait to make the locals work for the emperor."

Ye Kun also sighed: "Mr. Gongsun is very smart and suitable to be a conspirator. How about this, I will appoint you to manage the site, okay?"

After the conversation just now, Ye Kun felt that Gongsun Qishu was not a simple person.

His method is cruel, but it is feasible.

The entire territory of Jiaozhi Peninsula is now under control, so Ye Kun cannot use this trick.

However, this trick can be tried when conquering the Indian Peninsula, Central Asia and Europe in the future.

Gongsun Qishu clasped his fists and said, "Since the emperor has given the order, I will obey. The miasma is rampant in the south, and the northerners who go south are in great danger of death. I will use this life to serve the court."

Ye Kun smiled and said, "You don't have to be too afraid. The coastal city of Jiaozhi is very clean now, without miasma. The death rate of our soldiers is also decreasing year by year."

In the past two years, half of the soldiers brought by Qin Erwu and others died.

In the past year, it has dropped to 10 percent.

In addition to mosquito nets, alcohol, mugwort and other medicines, measures such as burning jungles, sanitary toilets, drinking boiled water, etc. adopted by Qin Erwu and others also greatly reduced the probability of infection.

In addition, Ding Ding also suggested planting mosquito-repellent trees, such as tuberose, sweet olive, camphor tree, mountain pepper tree, etc.

Through comprehensive management and multi-pronged approach, the environment in Jiaozhi has been greatly improved.

Gongsun Qishu didn't believe Ye Kun's words and said, "I heard that the spit of southerners is poisonous. Northerners can't stand it if they come across it."

"You're just talking nonsense." Ye Kun laughed:

"There are many people from Jiaozhi and Burmese working in our factories and mines. If their saliva is poisonous, wouldn't all our workers be poisoned to death?"

Guan Bao also laughed and said, "Mr. Gongsun, think about it, if the south is really so terrible, would our emperor dare to go there?"

"Your Majesty is blessed with great fortune, which is incomparable to ordinary people." Gongsun Qishu flattered him.

Ye Kun shook his head, went into the cabin, and played chess with Wang Baoguo.

Wang Baoguo was good at chess, but he didn’t dare to beat Ye Kun, so he deliberately lost to him every time.

"It's boring." Ye Kun pushed the chessboard away and said with a wry smile, "You can obviously beat me, but you keep letting me win just because I'm the emperor. It's really boring."

Wang Baoguo bowed and said, "Playing chess is a minor trick. Your Majesty should govern the country and bring peace to the four seas. This is the supreme way. Compared with your Majesty's great wisdom, my little cleverness on the chessboard is nothing."

"You are the only one who is good at talking, but I don't like it."

Ye Kun shook his head and sighed, "Everyone in the country treats me as the emperor, and no one treats me as a friend. I have no friends even though I'm the emperor. No wonder the emperor is called me widower."

Wang Baoguo thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, the monarch calls himself "I" to be modest, saying that he is a man of few virtues and lacks moral integrity, reminding himself to cultivate virtue. It does not mean that he has no friends."

Ye Kun smiled and said, "Then do you think I am a person of few virtues?"