Zhu Yuanzhang's words made everyone stunned, and everyone looked at Zhu Yuanzhang in disbelief.

Obviously, their gentry doesn’t do business, why do they still have to be the sucker and pay this huge sum of money?

However, they did not dare to speak directly, angering Zhu Yuanzhang. After all, as the founding emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang's power had long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

No one dared to challenge Zhu Yuanzhang's authority. Even if Zhu Yuanzhang has not launched the Hu Weiyong case, it is not something that cannot be provoked.

Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang continued to speak:

"We ask the gentry to pay for the money. It is precisely because we value them, otherwise such good things would not be their turn."

The officials below all complained deeply. Can such a thing be considered a good thing?

They would rather not want to spend so much money to make wedding dresses for merchants.

"I don't understand the throne."

As the leader of the Huaixi Group, Li Shanchang is naturally also a representative of the Gentleman Group.

In the current Huaixi Group, which family does not have thousands of acres of land, is rich in the local area, so it can naturally be called a gentry and official.

"Although commodity circulation was crucial in the Ming Dynasty, I think the official road was enough, why did the superiors insist on building highways?"

"The expressway does have great benefits for businessmen, but it is time-consuming and labor-intensive to build a expressway at such a cost."

"And neither the people nor the court can enjoy the benefits. I think this matter is inappropriate, so please think twice."

"Please think twice!"

"Please think twice!"

Li Shanchang looked down on businessmen at all, and businessmen are just the lowest class of society.

Even though they are very rich, they are full of money and are annoying.

In his opinion, highways are only beneficial to merchants, but not to the country or the people.

As for how merchants can be considered people? Isn’t this an insult to the people of the Ming Dynasty?

After Li Shanchang stood up, as the head of civil servants, naturally many people took the opportunity to stand up and agreed with Li Shanchang.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang narrowed his eyes slightly, his smile gradually calmed down, he looked at Hu Weiyong and asked:

"Hu Weiyong, what do you think?"

When Hu Weiyong heard Zhu Yuanzhang's question, he felt like he was on his back.

On one hand, he was his mentor and on the other hand, Hu Weiyong suddenly didn't know what to say.

Zhu Yuanzhang saw Hu Wei's speechlessness and asked again:

"Hu Weiyong, let's ask you something!"

"Your Majesty, I think that Li Xiang must have his own reason for saying this."

Hu Weiyong's forehead was slightly sweating, and he lowered his head and said in a deep voice:

"Since the emperor wants to emphasize agriculture and suppress commerce, there is naturally no need to build a highway, so I think what Li Xiang said is right."

Zhu Yuanzhang's smile was completely restrained, his eyes stared at Hu Weiyong, and he sneered, and was about to speak.

"But since the Emperor said so, he naturally has long-term plans."

Hu Weiyong hurriedly continued before Zhu Yuanzhang spoke:

"How can I understand the emperor's intentions in my despicable views? If there is anything wrong with what I said, please don't blame me!"

Zhu Yuanzhang's face was a little slow, but he was still not satisfied with Hu Weiyong's answer.

Since Hu Weiyong was promoted by Zhu Yuanzhang, the Huaixi Group's influence in the court has become increasingly large.

Liu Bowen was unable to stand alone in the court, and it was difficult to withstand the attacks between Hu Weiyong and Li Shanchang.

Zhu Yuanzhang urgently needed to split the Huaixi Group.

Just now, when Zhu Yuanzhang saw Li Shanchang stand out, he wanted to test Hu Weiyong's attitude, but found that Hu Weiyong was still standing on Li Shanchang's side.

This shows that Huaixi Group is now very united, and Liu Bowen is destined to be suppressed.

But this did not meet Zhu Yuanzhang's expectations at all. What he wanted was balance, not one-sidedness.

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes kept circling on Hu Weiyong and Li Shanchang. Since you two insisted on wearing a pair of pants, let's kick one of you out.

Then, Zhu Yuanzhang finally expressed his original plan and said:

"You all misunderstood."

"This time, although we ask the gentry to pay for the construction of the railway, we will subsidize them."

"This highway will become a toll road in the future. All the merchants passing by must pay the toll first before they can pass here."

"And half of this toll will be taken out and fed back to these gentry as rewards."

"Now let's ask you, do we treat gentry the most favorable?"

Shocked, absolutely shocked.

All civil and military officials were completely shocked by Zhu Yuanzhang's remarks.

Since ancient times, although I have often heard:

This mountain is my blooming, this tree is my planting. If you want to pass by, leave your words to buy wealth.

But that was all done by bandits and bandits. They had never heard of any country's imperial court that had to charge for the official roads they built.

Moreover, this kind of thing was proposed by Zhu Yuanzhang, who has always loved the people as much as his son, which is really incredible.

"Your Majesty, I think this fact is inappropriate. How can the court builds roads and charges to the people tolls?"

Minister of the Ministry of Revenue Lu Chang was the first to jump out to object.

Although these silvers will be received to the Ministry of Revenue in the future, Lu Chang felt that this fact was too absurd and he could not accept it at all.

But this time, no one agreed with Lu Chang, and all the officials were thinking about the feasibility of this matter.

As a surrendered minister of the previous dynasty, Lu Chang was also from a poor family. Naturally, he would not think of the interests of gentry when doing things. In his eyes, there were only the people.

Otherwise, he would not have chosen to surrender to Zhu Yuanzhang. He thought that Zhu Yuanzhang could pacify the world and save the people from water and fire, so he chose to surrender.

However, Lu Chang became an isolated minister in the Ming Dynasty. After all, the surrendered minister was able to become the Minister of Revenue, which proved his ability.

Zhu Yuanzhang also admired Lu Chang very much, but at this time Lu Chang seemed to be alone and no one spoke for him.

After thinking for a while, Li Shanchang went out to Zhu Yuanzhang again and said:

"It turns out that the top leader is indeed far-sighted, not something we can't achieve."

"I didn't expect that the superiors would have such a wild idea, which made me suddenly realize it."

"It is really wonderful to borrow the silver from the gentry to seek welfare for the people of the world, and then use the collected silver to return the silver from the gentry."

"It's simply amazing. Only the superiors can find such a way. I ordinary people dare not even think about it."

"Yes, the emperor is really the most saint in the world. He cares about the people all his heart, which makes us ashamed."

"The emperor is wise!"

The civil servants below all changed their tone.

If they can stand in Fengtian Hall, they will naturally be all human spirits.

Otherwise, Zhu Yuanzhang would not have been attracted by the sight of him and he would have been selected to enter the Fengtian Hall.

You should know that the officials in Fengtian Palace are all covered in red and purple, and the lowest one is a fifth-rank official.

Their minds were spinning quickly, and in just a moment, they thought about the pros and cons of things.

If the gentry is really willing to give half of the fees charged on the expressway to the gentry, as Zhu Yuanzhang said, then the gentry will definitely make a big profit.

Even if everyone accounts for only one thousandth of the money, it is a huge amount of money.

And this huge amount of money can be passed on to future generations.

If a prodigal son really emerges among future generations, as long as the equity held by the expressway remains unchanged, there will be a large amount of money to be taken every year.

With the development of the Ming Dynasty, commerce will inevitably become more prosperous in the future, and accordingly, the fees will naturally increase on highways.

This is really a one-time investment, a lifetime return, and that massive return.

Almost at the same time, all civil servants quickly changed from the initial opposition to waiting and watching state, and they wanted to participate immediately.

"I dare to ask the emperor, when will the construction of the expressway start?"

"You must know that the merchants are still in dire straits. Their cargo transportation is too slow. I still can't wait to build a highway for them to relieve their transportation pressure."

The Minister of Works stood up and submitted a memorial to Zhu Yuanzhang.

After all, if the expressway is really to be built in the future, it will naturally be the responsibility of the Ministry of Works.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the civil and military officials with their eyes shining below, and the smile on his lips resurrected and asked Liu Bowen:

"Berwin, do you think this matter is feasible?"

"I think this matter is not feasible!"

Liu Bowen's words successfully attracted the attention of civil and military officials and everyone.

But this time, it is hatred and hostility.

Even the official under his Zhejiang East Group looked at Liu Bowen in confusion, not understanding what Liu Bowen meant.

After all, blocking one's wealth is like killing one's parents.
Chapter completed!