Li Yunze doesn't do any private visits incognito.
It's not that he's worried about safety. In his current state, there's no reason to worry about safety.
Whenever you go out of Chang'an City, you always take a group of people to identify yourself, so that you can make decisions at any time.
Just like in this small village at this time, if Li Yunze had any private visit incognito, he would have to talk a lot of nonsense.
And after he directly revealed his identity, he could directly ask the grain merchant who was pinned to the ground, "Who is your backer?"
It is impossible to do business in Guanzhong and Chang'an, especially the grain business, which requires a lot of capital, without a backer.
It is impossible for ordinary merchants to do things like smooth communication from the government, security guarantees, transportation and sales networks, etc.
There is also the principal.
In an ordinary village, like the one in front of you, there are more than a hundred households. On average, each household can sell at least tens or hundreds of shi of grain. A household of 100 households can sell more than 10,000 shi of grain.
The money spent just to purchase these grains amounts to millions of dollars.
A costly transportation team must also be organized to transport millions of kilograms of grain.
Various expenses such as paying taxes along the way, hiring manpower to maintain safety, and so on.
If you want to be a grain merchant, you need a lot of start-up capital.
Moreover, a grain merchant cannot only buy the surplus grain of one village, but at least the surplus grain of ten or eight villages. How can any merchant without a big backer be able to spend tens of millions or even over 100 million yuan?
The grain merchant who was pinned to the ground was dumbfounded and shouted tremblingly, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, the common people are just collecting grain and have never done anything that violates Han law~~~"
Ju Meng, who was standing by, saw Li Yunze frowning, and immediately took two steps forward, grabbed the grain merchant's hair, and walked over to him, "Just say whatever your Majesty asks you. If you dare to make any noise, I will send you to the prison of the Ministry of Punishment!"
The prison of the Ministry of Punishment was the former Tingwei Yamen. Even the royal family and nobles would tremble in their legs when they heard about the prestige of this place.
The grain merchant finally became honest and told his backer with a swollen face, "The Marquis of Qinghe is not harmful."
The first marquis of Qinghe was named Wang Sui, and he was one of the eighteen founding marquises of Liu Bangding.
The fiefdom is Qinghe, and the food town is as high as 2,200 households.
Their family is relatively low-key. From the chaos of the founding of the country to the execution of Zhu Lu, and then to the succession of thrones, they basically did not participate in it. They were the type who made a fortune in silence.
As for the grain business, their family started it many years ago, and it has always been smooth sailing. They never thought that when they came to the village to buy grain today, they would meet the emperor.
This is really unlucky.
"The Marquis of Qinghe."
Li Yunze nodded, indicating that he understood, and then asked, "Where will you send the food after you have collected it?"
The grain merchant's eyes were evasive, but he couldn't hide it from an old man like Ju Meng. He directly went over with another big trick: "If you dare to lie in front of His Majesty, that is none of your own business."
This Da Bi Dou immediately woke up the grain merchant and responded tremblingly, "Send them all to the granary on the bank of the Wei River."
"oh."
Li Yunze asked again, "Where will it be sold later and at what price?"
"It's mainly sold to the land of Kanto, and we can't sell it now." After the release, the grain merchants just poured beans into bamboo tubes, saying endlessly, "We have to wait until next year when there is a shortage of crops, or when there is a famine somewhere. Then they were shipped and sold at a high price.
"
He then added, "And what we are selling is last year's old grain. The grain received this year will not be sold until next year. If it weren't for the difficulty of preserving food, it would be better to sell old grain from many years ago."
Everyone around him looked angry, there was no doubt that he was a profiteer.
"What's the price?" Li Yunze asked again with a normal expression, "What's the price for you to sell it for?"
"This." The grain merchant paused before saying, "The price usually fluctuates. You have to see the local selling price. Usually when the economy is in recession, three hundred yuan per stone is the minimum. If there is a famine somewhere, sell seven or eight A hundred dollars and a stone have happened.”
"What a bastard!"
"Profiteer!"
"How dare Qinghe Hou do such a thing!"
"Your Majesty, we must be severely punished!"
All the officials were very angry. This was really bad.
Li Yunze was noncommittal and looked at the young man next to him who had an angry look on his face. "Li Gan, take him to find Zhang Tang and order Zhang Tang to deal with the matter of Marquis Qinghe."
Young Li Gan immediately saluted and said, "Here!"
When King Liu Dingguo of Yan was sent to Chang'an City, he naturally brought the news that it was Li Guang and his son who captured the thief.
Li Yunze also immediately made a decision to appoint Li Guang's youngest son Li Ganti, who was staying in Chang'an City, as his Langguan.
Li Guang and his son haven't come back yet. After returning, the Li family will definitely rise again.
Li Gan hurried to Chang'an City with the grain merchants, and Li Yunze was no longer in the mood to continue patrolling.
He led everyone straight to Shanglin Garden.
On the way to Shanglinyuan, Li Yunze had been thinking about how to solve the problem of low grains hurting farmers.
In the final analysis, this matter is still a business issue.
Buying at a low price and selling at a high price is indeed a business behavior, but the consequence is that it affects the income of farmers.
Li Yunze does support the strengthening of business practices, but he will definitely not support such things as buying low, selling high, or even making shady money.
After wandering around Shanglin Garden for a few days and checking the Ma Zheng here again, Li Yunze returned to Weiyang Palace.
"His Majesty."
Zhang Tang had been waiting for a long time. When Li Yunze came back, he immediately came to see his Majesty and reported the treatment of Qinghe Marquis.
"The prince of Qinghe did not harm the land, hid weapons and armor for himself, offered gold as a false minister, etc. It was agreed upon that he should be punished by beheading and removing his title."
Simply buying and selling grain is actually not illegal here in Dahan.
But it is a very simple matter to find the shortcomings of a marquis.
As a distinguished person, which family doesn't have a lot of illegal things?
It is inevitable to embezzle land, and there is no royal family who does not embezzle land. Li Yunze used so much effort and did so many things to force farmers to surrender their land, in order to cut off the foundation of land annexation.
Hiding weapons and armor privately is even more common among nobles.
The nobles are all martial artists, so it is a matter of course to have weapons and armor at home.
It's just that Han law stipulates that there is a quantitative limit on how many weapons and armor each family's nobles can possess.
Once it exceeds, it is naturally a rebellious behavior.
The reason for hiding more weapons and armor is naturally for self-protection.
On the other hand, it is for burial.
The Han Dynasty was an era when the burial system was prevalent.
If someone dies in the family, the funeral must be large enough, and the things buried with the family must be large enough and substantial enough. Only then can you be considered respectable, otherwise you will be criticized by others.
Moreover, during the Han Dynasty, it was popular to bury gold coins and the owner's favorite things during his lifetime.
Just like Zhang Tang, when his father passed away, in order to collect enough burial objects, he had to sell his family's land and buy gold objects to accompany him.
When the warriors are buried, there will definitely be no shortage of weapons and armor, and the more the better.
This is an important reason why many martial artists often hide weapons and armor in their homes.
In the past, as long as it didn't go too far, the emperor would turn a blind eye and no one would care.
But once you get serious, you will definitely get it right.
As for the fraud of the sacrificial gold, there is no need to say more about this.
During the Han Dynasty, the gold offered by the princes and nobles along with the brewing wine during sacrifices in the ancestral temple was called the brewing gold. There were strict regulations on this brewing gold, and the quantity and weight were not small.
Even for nobles, this is a huge expense.
As time goes by, it becomes a habit to play around with it and reduce the quantity and weight.
Historically, Emperor Wu used this excuse to get rid of a large number of nobles and nobles in one fell swoop after Wei Qing, Huo Qubing and others grew up and took control of the military.
There is no doubt that tampering with gold is also a capital crime.
Therefore, it is often a crime to cause trouble for nobles.
"Everything is buried underground. No wonder tomb robbers are punished with death." Li Yunze sighed, "We still have to change customs. Why are there so many things?"
He waved his hand and said, "Just deal with it according to the law."
"Here."
Zhang Tang saluted in response, and then said, "Your Majesty, Wang Buhao found seventeen thousand gold, three hundred and thirty million in money, and grain in his home."
Li Yunze moved slightly, "So rich?"
"Your Majesty." Zhang Tang responded again, "According to what Wang Buyu said, his family started doing this kind of grain business of buying low and selling high in the early years. Naturally, they have made a lot of money after accumulating it over the years."
"Huh, I'm really full."
Li Yunze waved his hand again and said, "Add it to the national treasury."
"Here."
"Tomorrow is the morning court, and I intend to come up with an idea about the grain purchase." Li Yunze asked Zhang Tang, "Go and inform Master Fu Yan and others, let them think of a solution overnight, and come up with it at the morning court tomorrow."
The morning pilgrimage is not required every day. It is usually held once every five days.
When there is an important day, it is called a big meeting, which usually happens every few days.
A more diligent emperor would do it once every three days.
Zhu Hongwu seems to be the only one who goes to morning court every day.
Zhang Tang's teeth are a bit sore. Who can come up with a good idea in this whole night?
But he couldn't say anything against it at this time. He could only retreat and go out of the palace to spread the message.
As for Li Yunze, he went to wash up first, and then went to find Wei Zifu.
Don't get me wrong, he was just looking for Wei Zifu to talk, chat, and exercise.
By the time the exercise was over and Li Yunze washed up again, it was already evening and he was ready to have dinner.
"His Majesty."
A Langguan came to report, "Prime Minister, please see Your Majesty."
"Let him come." Li Yunze, who was about to have dinner, motioned to the chamberlains to "add another table to the Prime Minister."
"Here."
Li Yunze knew that Master Yan would come, because no one could come up with a good solution in one night.
But the time was set so tightly. The only purpose was that the emperor already had an idea, but he just needed to say it from the prime minister's mouth.
Master Yan understood what he was saying, so he hurried over.
And, it came at the right time.
