Liu Cheng immediately rebuked him:
"Agriculture is the root, commerce the branch! Anyone who has read even a little, who knows anything of the world, understands that! Wang Yang, just to win an argument and cover your shame, you would exaggerate to such a degree! As the saying goes, if one man does not plow, someone may suffer hunger; if one woman does not weave, someone may suffer cold! Merchants do not farm or produce anything. They cannot add a single peck of rice or weave a single bolt of cloth! All they know is hoarding goods until the time is right, buying and reselling. Their only benefit is moving goods between those who have them and those who lack them, near and far, making life a little more convenient. At most, they are of some minor use!"
"You're wrong. Merchants indeed neither weave nor plow, but they can increase the total amount of grain..."
Liu Cheng kept snorting coldly. "You're spouting nonsense! You have no idea what you're saying!"
"If you don't understand, then listen carefully. Commerce, as an occupation, is fundamentally about exchange. The benefit of exchange is increased efficiency. For example, suppose you, Liu Cheng, were good at farming..."
Liu Cheng felt blood surge straight into his head. Bang! He slammed the table so hard that he knocked over a wine cup. "Wang Yang! You've gone too far in humiliating me!"
Wang Yang struck the table hard with his folding fan as well. **"Emperor Wen plowed the ceremonial fields, Marquis Wu farmed with his own hands, and the Sage Kings of the Three Dynasties all personally worked the land! I said you were good at farming, and you call that humiliation? Are you nobler than Emperor Wen of Han? More virtuous and accomplished than Marquis Zhuge Liang?