Bao Zheng originally thought that the poem "Plum Blossoms" was just a small test or a small episode, but he was shocked instead.

The problems he had worried about before had disappeared.

In his opinion, if the author can make such high-spirited poems and the style of the poems is elegant and natural, the author is naturally a person with noble character.

The son of Ouyang Xiu, who originally thought, was eager to be in business, and was afraid he was not a profit-seeking person, but now he thought that this should not be the case.

Bao Zheng was afraid that the cold outside would be frozen, and quickly called him in.

In fact, Bao Zheng’s public hall was not much warmer. There was only one stove, the windows and doors were not too sealed, and the layout inside was empty. Of course, the heating was not gathered, and only the coldness was felt.

When Bao Zheng saw Ouyang Bian shrinking his neck, he couldn't help but smile and said, "Do you still feel cold?"

Ouyang Bian nodded. It doesn’t matter if it’s cold outside, but it’s still cold indoors, so it’s a bit unbearable.

Bao Zheng quickly called someone to start the other two stoves, and the charcoal gas in the air became heavier again, and Ouyang Bian frowned slightly.

Bao Zhengqi said: "So what's wrong?"

Ouyang Bian pointed to the furnace and said, "The charcoal gas is too strong and not safe. I will ask you to install a few exhaust ducts later to discharge the charcoal gas, which will be much safer."

Bao Zheng realized something: "Are the exhaust pipes you mentioned like chimneys? It's a good thing. People in Bianjing City are suffocated to death in the house every winter. I guess it's this so-called charcoal."

Ouyang Bian nodded and said, "Kaifeng Prefecture Office should do more publicity in this regard, so as not to happen again such a tragedy."

Bao Zheng nodded: "That's right, I'm not in my position and not doing anything, but I can write a letter and say it. By the way, your teacher said that you wrote a book, did you bring it?"

Ouyang Bian smiled and said, "Hey, that's it. The book title is the "Theory of Wealth of the Country", all of which are simple insights I have figured out by myself. I'm afraid it won't be the eyes of everyone."

Bao Zheng took the book and said a little displeased: "A young man, how can he learn so many philanthropists? I will naturally evaluate whether it is good or not."

Ouyang Bian closed his mouth and squeezed his eyes at Wang Anshi.

Bao Zheng did not notice the small movements of Wang Anshi and his students, because his attention was already attracted by the manuscript in his hand.

Wang Anshi chuckled gently, pointed to Ouyang Bian outside, and the teacher and students walked slowly.

Bao Zheng in the room was studying hard with a book in his arms. When he raised his head, it was already dark, and Wang Anshi and Ouyang Bian were gone.

Bao Zheng let out a breath of turbid air and shook his head gently: "It's been a long time since I've seen such a fascinating good book, but... Is it a blasphemy for writing such a profound book in vernacular?

The manuscript will naturally be endless for a while. The manuscripts don’t look like they are only 670,000 yuan, most of which are explained by some concepts.

However, even if you write this kind of academic work in vernacular, you cannot finish it in a short time.

In other words, Bao Zheng himself is a senior official who has been with the local center, so the contents can be easier to understand.

Even so, I only read half of it after more than two hours.

But the content of this half of the book turns his previous confusing and unclear sensory cognition into real understanding.

This feeling of thrillingness can only be explained by enlightenment.

Bao Zheng touched the cover of the manuscript and thought to himself: The content of this book is not about merchants, but about how the country manages merchants. No wonder it is called the Wealth Theory of the Country.

But the so-called definition of national wealth does not only refer to the national treasury, but the comprehensive concept of people's wealth, national treasury, and scholars' wealth. The key points here mention:

The freedom to control personal labor rights and property rights is the cornerstone of commercial prosperity and economic progress.

The government must be a limited government, and its legitimate function is limited to providing the necessary judicial justice, a peaceful environment and some public facilities for market operations.

A freely competitive market can effectively coordinate production and trade activities in the commercial society and increase the wealth of the people.

This seems to be something Ouyang Bian emphasized.

But this is a general outline. In the book "The Wealth of Nations", Bao Zheng first reads through the title and then roughly reads through the contents inside. It can be roughly divided into this:

From the perspective of overall structure, the book is divided into five chapters.

The first chapter is grand, and the theory of production and value is calmly explained, followed by a brief capital theory chapter.

The first two articles build the basic framework of Ouyang Bian’s so-called economic system.

As a transition, the third article briefly traces the history of the rise of Chinese commercial society and analyzes the economic strategies of each dynasty and dynasty. Ouyang Bian especially made a high evaluation of the economic measures of the state.

But Ouyang Bian took advantage of the situation to introduce the fourth chapter, which was full of gunpowder, and systematically cleared the suppression of mercantilism.

Ouyang Bian expressed his dissatisfaction with Mercantilism in his book, believing that Mercantilism has formed a serious obstacle to the development of society.

Although Ouyang Bian's words are quite gentle, they still seem very sharp at the moment.

The fifth article deals with public finance.

Bao Zheng read this article very seriously, and Ouyang Bian's most important point in the theory of wealth of the country finally came to the surface.

——Ouyang Bian believes that the state must control some state-owned enterprises and develop a common development of multiple ownership economies with public ownership as the main body.

Bao Zheng's three views were strongly impacted, but at the same time he could not help but worry. Once this manuscript was published, it would have a huge impact on the current mainstream view.

Although many policies of the State and the DPRK, including the commercial tax system and the prohibition system, are quite advanced.

In fact, Ouyang Bian's theory of wealth of the country gave theoretical support to the commercial tax system and the prohibition system, but what exists is what exists. Once you reveal the internal logic inside it, you will encounter many obstacles.

The significance of the theory of Wealth of Nations lies in the fact that it exposes the internal logic of various economic activities of the state and forms a theoretical system with clear logic.

Of course Bao Zheng knew that this was a very amazing thing. The emperors and prime ministers of the country were just managing according to their intuition.

Ouyang Bian formed these theories, and also corrected errors and pointed out the direction of future development. This is the real amazing thing!

But it is foreseeable that the attention and debate that this book will attract will be unprecedented.

On the one hand, it is the so-called idea that officials do not compete with the people for profit, and on the other hand, it is the idea that a gentleman is ashamed of making profits.

Not to mention other people, even when he saw this article full of the wealth of the country, which was full of interests, he was inevitably disgusted, and he felt uncomfortable with the interests of Hong Guoguo revealed by Ouyang Bian.

There are indeed many structural contradictions between the ideas in the Theory of Wealth of Nations and the Confucian thoughts, which makes Bao Zheng very worried.
Chapter completed!