Hearing this, Li Si and Fusu became a little silent.
After a moment, Li Si said with some sadness: "The prince's health has always been better than that of me and General Wang. He was even able to fight with me in the court."
"In the past, let alone an autumn day or a change in temperature, I could quickly adjust my body even if the wind and cold entered my body or I was assassinated."
Fusu also spoke: "I remember one year, when the world was not yet unified, and when my father was worried about the world, the princes proposed strategies and traveled thousands of miles to alienate other countries."
"I went deep into a barren land and came back seriously ill. The imperial doctor even said that it is impossible for ordinary people to be cured of such an illness."
"But the prince only spent two months recuperating on the hospital bed and drank a few doses of medicine, and he was completely cured."
"Now it's just an autumn day, just a cold wind."
At this point, Fusu's voice was already choked with sobs: "Why is it so?"
Chen Ke lowered his eyes, with a little sadness in his expression.
The prince is Wang Guan.
In fact, his feelings for Wang Guan were not that deep. After all, when he came to Da Qin, Wang Guan almost took a back seat.
I didn't have any direct contact with him, nor did I have much interaction with him.
But Chen Ke still felt a burst of autumn sadness spreading from the bottom of his heart. He looked at the autumn sky in the distance and said silently: "The world is like this and fate is like this. Who can change it?"
He said with a soothing tone: "The prince is now at this age. If he can leave without much pain, it will be a good thing, not a bad thing."
Chen Keqiang braced himself.
Although it was the topic he brought up, he still felt a little sad inside.
Since ancient times, the death of a friend has been a major event.
........
Zhangtai Palace
Ying Zheng was sitting in the main hall, rarely dealing with government affairs, but looking at the documents in his hands in a daze.
This page of documents has been sitting here for a long time.
Han Tan stood beside Ying Zheng, bending slightly, waiting for Ying Zheng's instructions.
I don't know how long it took, but Ying Zheng's hoarse voice sounded: "Han Tan, how is the prince's health?"
Han Tan lowered his head, his voice humble and respectful.
"Your Majesty, the prince's health is already very bad. The imperial doctor who was sent to the prince's palace came back and said that it is estimated that he will only be able to recover in the past few days."
Ying Zheng stood up suddenly, with a look of surprise on his face: "Why so fast?"
Han Tan just said: "Your Majesty, when the imperial doctor came back, he said that the prince's body is not as healthy as it looks. He suffered too much typhoid fever and accumulated too many toxins when he was young."
"These toxins accumulated in every corner of the prince's body, which would have hindered the prince's lifespan."
"Now this wind and cold has caused all the toxins in the body to be crowded. In an instant, it was like a flood breaking through the embankment, and it took away the prince's spirit completely."
Ying Zheng stood there, looking a little silent.
In fact, his relationship with Wang Guan was not that rich. Even Wang Guan, an old man, proposed excessive enfeoffment when he first unified the country a few years ago, and his political views were different from his.
But now that he heard the news that Wang Guan was about to pass away, he still felt a little heavy in his heart.
Because he suddenly discovered something.
Li Si and Wang Jian are both very old.
Ying Zheng's sadness was because he saw what might happen to Li Si, Wang Jian, and the others who accompanied him to build this unified empire after Wang Guan's departure.
This is what makes him so sad and painful now.
This even vaguely contains some concerns about his body. Although he often practices the boxing techniques given by Chen Ke, the problem is that he has reached this age.
Can it really extend your life?
Since the departure of the two clan elders of Chuanyang Gong, Ying Zheng was once again forced to face the question of life and death.
.........
Whether you like it or not, whether you hope for it or not, whether you look forward to it or not, winter is coming.
The sudden drop in temperature and the falling of heavy snow mean that winter has entered a certain stage.
Because of the previous harvest in Penglaizhou, the people of Daqin lived very comfortably this winter, at least much more comfortably than before.
Two years ago, Chen Ke, who discovered the coal mine, had already handed this thing over, recalled several places rich in coal mines in his mind, and asked the First Emperor to find someone to explore and dig.
In the beginning, there was definitely not a lot of coal being mined.
But slowly, there were more and more.
In the past two years, these coal mines were slowly but surely transported to various parts of the country based on distance, starting from different counties, and then handed over to the Municipal Property Department.
The current organization of the Municipal Property Department has gradually grown in size.
It includes part of the rights of market supervision, part of the rights of state-owned enterprises, and part of the rights of agricultural production equipment.
The directors of the Municipal Property Department in various places have gradually become more powerful figures in the county, and their status has gradually risen. This is something that inevitably happens with the accumulation of power.
But the director of the Municipal Property Department is not arrogant, because he knows very well that when the Municipal Property Department continues to expand, the butcher knife of the reform will be chopped down on them.
Just like the Baijia Palace back then.
Baijia Palace, which at that time integrated schools, political institutions, research institutions, etc., is now divided into three places: university, education department, and research institute, with each institution inheriting part of the rights.
This is their future.
Therefore, the Directors of the Municipal Property Department are not arrogant, because they are afraid that when the city is divided in the future, someone will add insult to injury.
When winter arrives, municipalities and natural resources offices in various places begin to sell "coal".
Coal had just appeared in Daqin, and the price was very high, at least not something ordinary people could afford.
Of course, this thing is not originally targeted at ordinary people. His sales targets are wealthy businessmen and wealthy nobles.
Three silver coins cost a pound, and a pound of coal can burn for about two hours.
This is a very high price.
After all, although Da Qin's economy has developed now, people can also make money.
But silver coins were still only available to nobles.
One stone of grain costs only fifty copper coins, and one stone weighs one hundred and twenty kilograms, which is enough for a normal adult man to eat for a month.
If this conversion is not accurate enough, there is another conversion method.
Judging from the money that each adult man can exchange for.
Nowadays, Daqin's economy has developed. If it is physical work, such as moving things, each adult man's daily wage is twenty copper coins; if it is some technical work, such as literacy, working as a waiter, etc., the daily wage is about It's twenty-five to thirty copper coins.
One silver coin is one hundred copper coins, and one pound of coal requires an adult, literate man to work for more than ten days, nearly half a month.
A pound of coal can only burn for two hours.
The gap between rich and poor has always existed and has never gone away.
However, the sale of coal is also a good thing for ordinary Guizhou people.
Because the nobles began to use coal, the price of firewood will gradually decrease, which is now beginning to show.
The original price of a pound of firewood was about twenty copper coins, but now it has been reduced to fifteen copper coins.
It used to take one day's work to exchange for one pound of firewood, but now one day's work can exchange for nearly two pounds of firewood.
Moreover, this price is still falling.
When the temperature just dropped, the nobles began to burn coal. After all, the money was not a big deal to them, mainly because they could enjoy the warmth of winter, which was the same as the temperature of spring and autumn.
This is a good thing for nobles.
The Guizhou leaders began to hoard firewood. Every winter there is the coldest time. They hoarded firewood just to burn and keep warm during the coldest time, so as not to freeze to death.
While the Guizhou leaders were hoarding firewood, they discovered a very strange thing.
According to common sense, if they hoard firewood like this, the price of firewood will increase. This is human nature and everyone can understand it.
The best case scenario is to maintain the original price.
Because coal is in use, the price of firewood is decreasing.
It is common sense to lower and increase at the same time, and the final increase is higher than the decrease.
But now...
The price of firewood has not increased. Not only has it not increased, it continues to decrease.
Half a month ago it was fifteen copper coins, now it is ten copper coins, and it is even continuing to decrease.
The leaders of Guizhou became confused.
But they were very well-informed, and they soon learned that not all merchants were kind-hearted and willing to let them spend this winter.
It's because there is a group of people guarding them.
Who?
People from the Municipal Property Department.
This winter has just arrived, not long after coal went on sale and the price of firewood dropped, the people from the Municipal Property Department were ready.
When the Guizhou leaders began to rush for firewood, some wealthy merchants felt pity and were not prepared to raise the price. However, other wealthy merchants began to exert pressure, hoping to increase the price of firewood and make a good profit.
The wealthy businessmen who united were very powerful, and those who did not want to raise prices at first began to be squeezed out.
Just as the two were in a stalemate, people from the Municipal Property Department appeared.
As soon as it appeared, it turned the table over without making any sense.
They arrested those wealthy merchants and took out the Qin Law.
"Qin Law·People's Livelihood Law·Article 38: Those who drive up prices and take advantage of the people's danger shall be sentenced to different criminal laws based on the type of items used to drive up prices."
"Anyone who raises the price of basic necessities by one-tenth will be sentenced to five years in prison; anyone who raises the price by one-half will be sentenced to death. Descendants will not be allowed to participate in the selection of civil servants, literary competitions, or travel to various places for two generations. University."
"Anyone who raises the price of other supplies by one-tenth will be fined fifty silver coins, and anyone who raises the price by one-half will be fined fifty gold coins."
This Qin law was promulgated this summer. At that time, Li Si and Chen Ke thought that in winter, even if coal appeared, there would still be merchants who wanted to increase the price of firewood.
In exchange for more money to buy coal.
Of course, their purpose is not just that, they just want to make profits from the people.
When merchants and capital came into the world, they were covered in dirty blood from head to toe.
Therefore, when Chen Ke and Li Si formulated the regulations, they were very cruel to merchants who were driving up prices, especially those who were driving up basic necessities.
If one-tenth of the penalty is imposed, the person will be sentenced to five years in prison; if the penalty is increased by half, the person will be directly beheaded, and there will be certain restrictions on future generations.
Coincidentally, the market price of firewood is ten copper coins per catty. In order to make money, these merchants directly raised the price to twenty-five copper coins per catty, which is even more expensive than before the emergence of coal...
They are not worried that no one will buy their firewood, because the other people who do not increase the price have limited firewood, and those Guizhou leaders must buy it in order to survive.
This price gouging has exceeded half, even more than double, almost triple.
There was nothing to say. He was directly sentenced to death by the local county guard, and then handed over to the imperial court for approval and review. After the review was completed, it would be transferred to Xianyang City to be executed by the Queen of Autumn.
When they heard the news, the merchants were all filled with horror and disbelief, with blank looks on their faces.
They became afraid.
So he kept praying, and kept trying to use money to bribe officials, people from the Municipal Property Department, and even bribe the county governor, county magistrate, general magistrate, etc., and even asked his family to go all the way to Xianyang City with money to find the Ting Wei begged for mercy.
But when their families arrived, they were desperate.
Because they knew a piece of news.
All criminals sentenced to more than five years in prison or the death penalty will have all their property confiscated.
They have now become poor people and poor people.
One by one, the wealthy businessmen wailed in prison, they regretted it.
And those wealthy businessmen who did not increase prices kept stroking their hearts, feeling fear and pain.
They became afraid.
.........
Winter has arrived in this atmosphere.
On the first night before arriving, Zhang Han came back with the news that South Vietnam had been completely defeated. There was a strange man tied to his horse, who looked like a barbarian. The man had tattoos on his body, like they believed in of gods.
Zhang Han turned over and dismounted, with a look of respect and excitement on his face: "General, Zhang Han has lived up to the trust of your majesty, prime minister, and general, and defeated South Vietnam!"
On this winter day, a major hidden danger in the south of the Qin Dynasty, East Vietnam and South Vietnam among the Baiyue, were attacked and became part of the Qin Dynasty.
At the same time, the people of Kuaiji County received a large amount of firewood.
Enough for them to use firewood for a super long time.
and a forest stocked with firewood.
...........
East Palace
Fusu was sitting in the main hall, coals were burning.
He looked at the government documents in his hand with a satisfied look on his face.
"Teacher, maybe I have found my own way."
In the past, Fusu, like other nobles or rulers, did not regard the head of Guizhou as a common people of Qin.
But now, he feels that protecting the world's talents is his path.
Whether it is the head of Guizhou, the common people, or the nobles.
Both kings and tyrants!