Late at night in the dead of winter, with the northwest wind howling, a wild dog in the mountains dug a hole in the ground and went in unwilling to come out again.
The migratory birds have already left, and the resident birds in Guanzhong have been frozen to death without knowing it. As everything dies, the remaining moisture in the soil is condensing into ice.
This is a long, cold winter. The original late autumn season has not yet passed, and the cold wind from the north has swept down. But now, as New Year's Eve approaches, this cold winter has no intention of leaving.
In addition to Zhang Yang who was interested in the geography newly compiled by the Foreign Affairs Commission, Li Shimin was also holding this volume in his hand and looking at it.
At that time, General Tiance was also a high-spirited conqueror of the world. When he was galloping in the Central Plains, he also wanted to go further afield to see different scenery.
But times have changed, and for Li Shimin, his youth ended from the day he won the crown.
He could no longer go out to ride, but had to sit in the Tai Chi Hall. Ten years passed by sitting like this. These ten years have been about national affairs and war, and it's like being locked up in this temperatureless palace.
Looking at the records about Persia in front of him, Li Shimin wanted to see where he could make money, and how he found the way to make money from these records.
The prince walked in from outside the palace. He bowed and handed over a memorial.
"Your Majesty, this is a letter from Lishan." Li Shimin let out a long breath, put down the book in his hand, looked up at the contents of the letter, smiled bitterly and didn't know what to say.
Luoyang sent 500,000 silver coins to Lishan. At first I was somewhat prepared, but I didn't expect that it was less than I expected. It was because I underestimated the family's financial resources.
Five hundred thousand gu... Li Shimin slowly put down the secret letter in his hand. If all these 500,000 guan were used in the court, my Taiye Pond would be able to be built, not to mention paying money to various clans every year. Even the expenses in the palace have to be collected again and again.
The next day, today is New Year’s Eve. Li Shimin woke up early in the morning. To the emperor, Zhang Yang went from being penniless to having a fortune of hundreds of thousands. This kind of thing was intolerable in heaven.
Why can he be richer than me? I am the richest person in the world. The fact is that the breakfast in front of me at this moment is only a bowl of vegetarian porridge and a salted duck egg.
The children were no longer in the Manna Hall, and the queen felt much more relaxed. Take advantage of these days to quickly pack up the children’s things.
Empress Changsun frowned and said, "Your Majesty, is it not to your liking?" Li Shimin shook his head, peeled off the salted duck egg, crushed it with a spoon, mixed it into the porridge, and stirred it.
The maid on the side looked very surprised. Is this a new way of eating discovered by His Majesty? At this moment, in Li Shimin's heart, Zhang Yang was like an egg.
Under the calm expression, the emperor was filled with anger. The queen still didn't know the harvest from Lishan, so Li Shimin whispered: "Guanyin, I am eating clear porridge here right now. Do you know what Zhang Yang is eating right now?"
"Yue'er's family has always been thrifty, and their meals have always been simple."
"Is he thrifty? Is he simple?!" His Majesty's tone was a little higher, and the Queen frowned. He could lose his temper in front of anyone, but in front of his married wife, Li Shimin finally restrained himself.
"Queen, Lishan sent a lot of money."
"Send money?" Queen Changsun looked outside the palace, and sure enough, a box of money and a box of soap were delivered.
"Her Royal Highness the Princess said that Lishan Mountain had a good harvest this year. The queen kept the money to make clothes for the prince and princess, and the soap and cotton cloth were given to the palace." Queen Changsun nodded.
"Since Yue'er has considered it carefully, just accept it." The money was not much, and looking at the gift list, it happened to be eighty-eight copper coins.
There are also three hundred bars of soap and ten feet of cotton cloth. The queen liked it very much,
"Yue'er is sensible and has always helped the palace. When she comes back from Lishan, she will definitely come to the palace to pay New Year's greetings. This is Zhang Yang's habit. I will arrange some fine salt for the couple then."
"Here." The palace man replied in a low voice.
"Smart?" Li Shimin served himself another bowl of porridge. He ate so fiercely that you could even hear the sound of his teeth hitting the edge of the bowl.
Seeing that His Majesty has such a good appetite, the maids of the Li Zheng Palace were worried that His Majesty would bite the bowl to pieces and break his mouth.
After breakfast, Li Shimin left the Zhengdian Hall expressionlessly. In the past, meals were eaten in the morning after morning, after Chen, and then again in the evening.
At first it was two meals, and the boy suggested that I get up early, have one meal at noon, and have another meal in the evening. Unknowingly, my eating habits changed.
After having breakfast, I feel more energetic and don't feel as sleepy as before. Li Shimin walked into the Ganlu Hall and said loudly: "Here comes someone!"
"Your Majesty, this old slave is here." The prince stepped forward and bowed. Li Shimin wanted to say that he would send 100,000 troops to rob Lishan now, but he once again controlled the thought of looting Lishan.
"Summon Fang Xuanling and Duke Zheng."
"Here." This was during the period of rest, but many local officials wrote memorials about what happened in Luoyang. These memorials were sent to Chang'an City like snow flakes and piled up in Menxia Province.
Li Shimin was also a little annoyed about this, and he would settle these matters at the beginning of the next year. It must also be handled with care to minimize the impact on the court as much as possible.
Half an hour later, Wei Zheng and Fang Xuanling walked into the hall together. Li Shimin took out a memorial,
"This is a memorial sent by thirteen counties in five prefectures, including Tongguan, Hedong, Fanyang, and Taiyuan." Wei Zheng and Fang Xuanling had heard about this a long time ago.
Three days after the incident in Luoyang, news reached Chang'an City, and many people in Chang'an were talking about it at this moment.
This thing is too big. After Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng read the memorial, Li Shimin said expressionlessly, "What do you think?"
"At the beginning, I advised your Majesty that you need to curb businessmen, but the measures taken by the government are still not enough." This reminded Li Shimin of Fang Xuanling's words of admonition in the second year of Zhenguan.
Merchants can make a lot of profits by buying things from the south and transporting them to the north. And most businessmen are dependent on the powerful.
Gradually, most of these businessmen were controlled by the powerful and became the money bags in the hands of the powerful. If there are businessmen who resist the family, no matter how much money you have as a businessman, you will be eaten up by the local dignitaries and nobles.
Businessmen are always the most insecure people. They can be replaced by their peers at any time. Therefore, they are not only attached to the powerful, but also use money to bribe officials, thus bringing more convenience to their business.
This is how the interest exchanges between officials and clans were formed. Wei Zheng cupped his hands and said in a deep voice: "I thought someone was behind this matter and had a plan."
"Mr. Zheng is right." Fang Xuanling said again: "If you want to earn more money, the sugar business does not need to be passed between aristocratic families. You can definitely attract more people to participate. Fortunately, the other party is not greedy. , if he continues to be greedy and goes further to deprive ordinary people of their wealth, more people may suffer."
"But the price of sugar is so high that ordinary people can't afford it. That's why the price blocks the way." Li Shimin frowned and said, "So I should control the merchants more?" There can be merchants in the Tang Dynasty, but there can't be too many merchants. Big businessmen cannot appear either. Once a businessman becomes big, it will shake the country's foundation.
It is even less conducive to getting an official position. Fang Xuanling whispered what she was thinking. Throughout the ages, farmers who have fields to cultivate have been nobler than businessmen.
Farmers can also become officials. Fang Xuanling said again: "The matter between Yan Shigu and the secretary-supervisor is very important. I hope your majesty will think twice." This time Luoyang's scam was essentially a robbery of a noble family.
Because of this incident, Li Shimin felt more and more that the businessman was doing something terrible. Wei Zheng took a step forward,
"Your Majesty, I think the crux of the matter still lies in the aristocratic families. Many merchants are attached to powerful families. This is not a good thing." Li Shimin nodded and said: "The biggest merchant in Guanzhong is Lishan." He did not answer Wei Zheng's question directly. Because Wei Zheng has always been relatively tough.
Lishan is indeed very wealthy, and Lishan's business is also very large. But the DPRK has another emotion towards Lishan. Lishan gives the DPRK nearly 10,000 guan in taxes every year, and last year it paid 8,000 guan in taxes.
It also solved the urgent needs of the DPRK. Is it possible that Lishan should not sell and buy? On the one hand, Li Shimin would not admit that his daughter was a businessman, but Zhang Yang was ranked among the six ministers, and was the minister of Zhongshu Province.
If we really want to say who is a businessman, we can only say that all the villagers in Lishan are businessmen. As for this son-in-law, just think that he took advantage of a loophole in the laws of the Tang Dynasty.
This loophole is related to the relationship between husband and wife and the behavior of the local villagers. Zhang Yang advocates production from the beginning to the end. As for the relationship between buying and selling, it is all done by businessmen from all walks of life.
Lishan does not have any shops in Chang'an City, nor does he engage in buying or selling. From one point of view, Zhang Yang is not a businessman.
But this gave the emperor a headache. Prime Minister, Duke Zheng and Your Majesty have been discussing for a long time in the Manlu Hall. Finally, in the afternoon of the same day, the prince rushed to Lishan with His Majesty's oral instructions.
In the village, the whole village was busy celebrating New Year's Eve, and a litter of bears was sent from Liaodong. These bears were not big, only two years old.
It's really distressing to see them all malnourished. Li Lizhi took Gao Yang and Dongyang and took out rice porridge to feed them.
It was the brothers from the Braised Pork Gang who brought these bears. Zhang Yang saw them off personally and took out a letter,
"Please two brothers give this letter to Da'an." The other party solemnly took the letter, left a word of assurance and hurriedly rode away.
The teacher has always been worried about Da'an in Liaodong, and the current situation of Da'an they brought should be told to the teacher.
There were five brown bear cubs in total, which seemed to have just been weaned. The little bear came twisting its huge body, took one look at these thin bears, and then walked away.
There was a bit of disgust in its eyes, as if these milk bears would ruin its prestige as the overlord of the party.
Bears are very adaptable to their environment and can grow very quickly as long as they have enough food. Dongyang watched a milk bear crawl towards him, which made several little girls giggle.
Zhang Yang looked on with his hands folded, but the little bear didn't care about these milk bears. Instead, it walked into the field.
A villager was turning over the soil with a hoe. The bear is trying to save its face as a bear by clawing away at the upper layer of frozen soil in the field.
Brown bears plowing the fields is a very unique sight. Especially now that it is using up its inexhaustible strength, after being hitched to a plow, it can plow the land as slowly as an ox.
It is just five years old, the youngest and strongest, and needs something to occupy its energy, and plowing is just right for it.
But the cows in the village cannot be unemployed. Once the cows are unemployed, they will be killed and become people's meals.
Zhang Yang looked back and saw Wang Gongzheng walking into the village by chance, with a smile on his face and quick steps.
"Eunuch Wang, have you finally left the palace and come to Lishan to retire?"
"County Marquis!" Wang Gonggong sighed,
"Old slaves are not here to support themselves in old age."
"Have you finished eating the salted duck eggs? I'll get you some more."
"No." Wang Gonggong smiled bitterly and said: "This old slave is here to deliver oral instructions. Please listen carefully." Zhang Yang bowed in the direction of Chang'an City.
"You tell me." Wang Gonggong stood up straight and said,
"Your Majesty's decree is that the incident in Luoyang has spread throughout the Central Plains. There are many memorials in Menxia Province talking about this incident. Recently, Your Majesty summoned the Prime Minister to discuss the business strategy with Duke Zheng."
"Then I am also a businessman." Zhang Yang said subconsciously. Wang Gonggong added: "The Prime Minister has discussed with Duke Zheng that the county prince is not a merchant. The products produced by Lishan are not actively involved in the sale. Lishan does not have shops in Chang'an City or other places, so the county prince is not a merchant." ..." Listening to his words, Zhang Yang paced back and forth and thought, Lishan does not actively participate in buying and selling, and Lishan is considered a large collective production model.
The essence is different from that of a businessman. These traders who purchase goods from Lishan are real businessmen who operate by buying low and selling high.
Does this count as the emperor excusing his daughter and son-in-law? You can do bad things with the emperor, but you can't let the emperor take the blame. You can negotiate terms with the emperor, but you can't negotiate favors with the emperor, otherwise you will be killed sooner or later.
Now Li Shimin behaves like a big favor. Let Lishan avoid the possibility of being liquidated? After all, it was still the power of the emperor, and it was the capable people in Li Shimin's hands who made suggestions.
They know the importance of Lishan. Li Shimin never thought of dealing with Lishan. Rather than being reluctant to do anything, it's better to give someone a favor.
The wind was very cold at this time of year. Zhang Yang tightened his clothes and could even feel the cold air on the tip of his nose when he breathed.
"I don't want to owe His Majesty any favors."
"Your Majesty also has a request. All the county prince has to do is agree to it."
"Please speak." Wang Eunuch still smiled and said,
"From now on, no shops are allowed to be set up in Lishan operations. Everything else remains as before, and the county prince is not allowed to teach people to do business, including his future heirs." Seeing Zhang Yang's tangled look, he added: "I won't hide it from the county prince, old man I often see His Majesty worrying about Lishan Mountain. This is the fiefdom of Her Royal Highness the Princess. Firstly, it is to protect Lishan Mountain. Furthermore, Lishan Mountain has caused a lot of headaches for the court. Places like Lishan Mountain must not appear again in the future."
"Can Lishan be expanded?" Zhang Yang realized one thing. If Lishan's expansion was restricted, it would be equivalent to stifling technological development.
"I don't know much about this old slave. If you have any doubts, the county prince can discuss it with your majesty next year." Zhang Yang grabbed his wrist and said,
"Old Wang, you said you're free to take a bath in the imperial court now..." This didn't sound right. He wanted to say something more, but the county marquis said again.
"Old Wang, our village is holding a New Year's Eve banquet, and it's getting so late, so why not have dinner at Lishan Mountain." Hearing this, the prince looked around in panic, and waved his other hand repeatedly in rejection.
"No, I have to return to the palace to report to His Majesty."
"A return to life during the Chinese New Year? What kind of return to life? Just say that the Supreme Emperor has kept you."
"This is bullying the emperor, this cannot be..."
