I clearly wanted to be a tyrant, but how did I become the greatest emperor of all time?

Li Tian coughed lightly and said:

"I think what Mr. Fan said is right!"

"The imperial court must insist on running the salt and iron industry!"

“Not only must we persist, we must also strengthen it!”

"In the future, the salt permit system will be abolished, and salt farms will be opened in counties and prefectures to sell salt directly!"

"The price will be based on the cost of the salt field, and the court will directly provide affordable salt to the people!"

After he finished speaking, the Minister of Revenue wanted to object anxiously.

But when he saw Tang Xiaoren's look, he had to swallow his words.

Li Tian continued, "The same goes for ironware, kitchen utensils and farm tools, which are still operated by the imperial court."

"But wine production can be liberalized. Let the cabinet come up with a plan!"

[Adhere to the state-run salt and iron industry, compete with the people for profits, prestige: -20! Great Zhou national fortune: -2000 points! ]

Very good, very good!

Although the weight loss is not much, for Li Tian, even a small mosquito is still meat!

The local representatives all had sad faces.

Both topics of this Salt and Iron Conference were completely defeated.

But they immediately cheered up and continued to fight on the subsequent issues!

The Salt and Iron Conference lasted for three days!

The division ratio between the central government finances and local finances was discussed.

Assessment criteria for local officials.

How to curb local gentry from annexing land.

How to collect commercial taxes uniformly.

Including topics such as how to govern martial arts sects.

Later on, Li Tian really lost interest and simply stopped attending.

Public opinion both at home and abroad overwhelmingly favored the local representatives, but this Salt and Iron Conference ended in a complete failure for the local representatives.

The prohibition on the establishment of private schools is equivalent to cutting off the channel for the supply of talents in science.

From now on, everyone has to study in official schools, and the official academic discipline is the School of Mind, which is equivalent to excluding the School of Principle from the ranks of official academic disciplines.

It indirectly cut off the monopoly of the imperial examinations by the gentry and Neo-Confucian scholars.

The imperial court strengthened the state-run salt and iron industries, which was another blow to the gentry who hoped to enter the salt and iron fields.

The imperial court then issued a strict decree to curb annexation.

Counties and counties across the country were required to conduct an inventory of farmland and fully implement the decision to distribute the tax based on the amount of land.

This time, the local representatives' attempt to use public opinion to influence the court failed.

The Zhou court once again returned to suppressing local gentry.

But there is still a topic that the court has not discussed.

This is the most critical issue concerning the Great Zhou.

Foreign policy!

This was the last agenda item of the Salt and Iron Conference.

At the current Salt and Iron Conference, the topic of state-run salt and iron has become a minor topic.

It was called the Salt and Iron Conference, but in fact it was a meeting to build consensus within the Great Zhou Dynasty.

It is also the state affairs meeting of the Great Zhou.

This last one also affected the foreign policy of the Great Zhou Dynasty in the future.

Is to continue to develop outward and explore policies.

Just like before, we will no longer explore new areas and will close our country to the outside world.

This topic is also quite controversial among the top leaders of the Great Zhou.

This is an important issue involving people's livelihood, military, economy, and even Confucianism.

Everyone is waiting for tomorrow's meeting.

The earliest department established in the imperial court was the Hanlin Academy.

The busiest department in the Hanlin Academy today is the New Dibao.

Every day, we have to prepare for the compilation and typesetting of the new court bulletin in the early morning and formulate the content of the day.

After the Hanlin Academy completed the typeset work, eunuchs would carry the newspaper master copy to the printing department of the Imperial Household Department.

This was also a department established by the Imperial Household Department, and all the eunuchs and palace maids from the Imperial Household Department worked in it.

The next step is typesetting and printing. The eunuchs working with movable type printing have to complete the printing and typesetting within half an hour.

Then he immediately printed out a copy and sent it to the Hanlin Academy again.

After the editor had reviewed the new gazette, the Printing Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs began printing the gazette using a printing press.

Next, before 3 o'clock every day.

The new gazette, filled with the aroma of ink, will be sent to various distribution points.

These distribution points are waiting for many newspaper vendors.

There will also be a batch of new official reports that will be sent on trains or transport vehicles leaving Beijing and delivered to various places in the Great Zhou.

After the newspaper vendors at the Kyoto distribution point buy the Shin-Eigao, they will then distribute the newspapers to newsboys to sell on the streets.

There are also newspaper boys who are responsible for delivering newspapers to wealthy households that have subscribed to the newspapers.

Nowadays, every wealthy family has a mailbox at the door.

As long as you drop the new official gazette into the mailbox, a servant will take it away.

Nowadays, there are kiosks selling newspapers along the streets of Kyoto.

In addition to newspapers, these newspaper stands also sell breakfast, hot water and the like.

By five o'clock, the newsboy had finished delivering the newspapers.

These newspaper delivery boys took the newspapers and started selling them on the streets.

Inheriting Liu Wenzhuo's style, the new official newspaper is basically described in vernacular that ordinary people can understand.

The government-run and night school education promoted by Fan Jian in Kyoto also improved the literacy rate of Kyoto residents.

Therefore, the newspaper business is very good in Kyoto.

There are many workshops in Kyoto now, and most of them are located in the suburbs.

Those working people would also buy a newspaper and read it while eating in the breakfast shop.

As the Salt and Iron Conference was being held these days, newspapers were in increasingly short supply.

After getting the newspaper, Hirozo Igawa also went to a breakfast shop.

But this place is different from roadside stalls. This is where dignitaries have breakfast.

As the second son of the Protector of Wo, Igawa Hirozo had no right of inheritance.

The representative of Japan attending the Salt and Iron Conference this time was Igawa Hirozo's brother, the real crown prince.

Although Kozo Igawa did not attend the meeting, he was also very concerned about it.

Every time Quan Minhao came back from a meeting, he would pull Quan Minhao aside to ask about the content of the meeting.

Opening the new newspaper, an article caught Igawa Hirozo's attention.

"On Colonial Expansion".

The author of the article is anonymous.

Why was this anonymous article published on the front page of the newspaper?

"The Great Zhou now has 42 million people. Taking the population of Kyoto as an example, the average family has four or five children."

"There are six million new students under the rule of the imperial court now. How many people will there be in the Great Zhou in twenty years?"

This is the academic argumentation of psychology.

It seems that this is a disciple of Xinxue.

Igawa Hirozo nodded slightly and continued reading.

"According to my calculations, in ten years' time, the population of the Great Zhou Dynasty will be 58 million!"

"Then in forty years, the Great Zhou will have a population of tens of millions!"

"In Yuhang nowadays, an ordinary family only has three mu of land!"

“These lands are just enough to feed and clothe people.”

"Forty years from now, a family in Yuhang will only have one acre of land, and people will starve to death!"

"If Yuhang is like this, what about other prefectures?"

Igawa Hirozo felt a chill on his back. No one had ever noticed this angle.

But if the population of the Great Zhou really grows like this, then there really won’t be enough land!

The author of the article continued: "If we continue to defend the status quo, then the land of the Great Zhou will definitely not be enough."

"Either they mutinied, some people died, and then they returned to a population that could be fed."

"But to let so many people die in the Great Zhou is obviously unjust."