Under the bright sunshine, the city of Tokyo was bustling with people. It was much more orderly than before. The most obvious change was that the guards who were domineering in the streets disappeared. This is the result of Shang Hongqian rectifying military discipline and restraining the imperial army during this period.
In their place, the city officials and patrolmen who managed the market were taken over by the Kaifeng Prefecture. After Hou Yi took office, he used the most severe measures to seriously enforce the public security situation in Tokyo's streets, rectified many people, and the atmosphere gradually improved.
However, even if the sun shines brightly, it is difficult to completely dissipate the ghosts and monsters. The new managers have obviously stepped into their roles and are domineering.
"Hou Yi, the prefect of Kaifeng, is doing a good job!" Standing in a tea shop, Liu Chengyou looked at the awed eyes of a group of several city officials and hawkers who were doing business around them. Down, gradually walked away and disappeared around the corner of the street.
Although it is a tea shop, it actually sells wine, provided that the customers can afford the high prices. For the sake of rice and grain, the imperial court banned alcohol, but how could it really prohibit it? Although it was not in vain, for those high-ranking officials and nobles, secretly making some wine in the deep courtyard was not a big or difficult matter. The imperial ban was really Those who are restrained are ordinary people at the bottom. Moreover, the scope of radiation is limited to the Gyeonggi region.
Even so, calls for lifting the ban have become louder and louder recently among the government and the public in Tokyo. Wine is something that really makes people want to stop drinking.
Wang Zhang, the envoy of the third division, proposed to Liu Chengyou just two days ago that the matter of distiller's yeast, like salt and iron, should be included in the official camp. This is another money-making method that Wang Zhang came up with, because since the imperial ban on alcohol, there have been many people in Gyeonggi who sell liquor privately and take advantage of the opportunity to make huge profits.
Regarding Wang Zhang's suggestion, Liu Chengyou really didn't know how to express his emotions. After learning about this, my first reaction was not to worry about the poor implementation of the imperial ban, but to consider how to take advantage of the opportunity to make profits. Of course, Wang Zhang is also trying his best to increase revenue for the treasury.
In the entire court, the person whose hair turned gray the fastest was Wang Zhang. For the sake of national finance and taxation, with Liu Chengyou's acquiescence, Wang Zhang formulated many policies and laws that were sheltered under "positive taxation", and he suffered a lot of infamy.
Liu Chengyou knew in his heart that blocking was better than opening up. But this prohibition on alcohol will continue for some time. If the court does not suppress it, even if there is a shortage of food, a lot of food will be used to make wine. Moreover, a targeted crackdown on the illegal drinking and drinking of alcoholic beverages in Tokyo must be carried out.
"Official family." Li Shaoyou turned into the room, walked quietly to Liu Chengyou's side, and called out.
"Have you checked it out? Whose property is this tea shop?" Liu Chengyou didn't even look back, he was holding his airs.
Li Shaoyou said: "It was placed by Su Xianggong's relatives."
Now, there is only one Xianggong Su left in the court...
"The relationship between this is really not simple." Liu Chengyou grinned, raised his hand and said calmly: "Notify the matter to Kaifeng Mansion, and Hou will deal with it!"
"yes!"
Liu Chengyou raised his eyes and looked at his cousin who was showing respect, and suddenly said calmly: "I see a lot of criticisms of the imperial court in the market, why haven't I heard the report from Wude Secretary?"
Hearing the question, Li Shaoyou subconsciously felt his heart tighten, his eyes wandered, and he quickly said: "Please rest assured, officials, I will immediately notify the director of the department and instruct him to strictly deal with those who make nonsense among the people!"
"What a nonsense!" Liu Chengyou scolded him immediately.
"Yes!" Li Shaoyou bent down.
"How can we stop everyone talking? Even if we can keep our mouths shut, how can we keep our hearts silent?" Liu Chengyou lectured: "The imperial court has its own bad government, but if the people are suffering, why don't they be allowed to complain? If the court can implement good governance, why should we be afraid of rumors?"
Li Shaoyou respectfully echoed: "What the officials said is true! It's my minister's lies."
Seeing the cautious look on his cousin's face, Liu Chengyou then added: "However, we must not relax about those remarks that are likely to confuse people and have evil intentions, so as not to be taken advantage of by bad people! Looking at the public sentiment in Tokyo, The people are not stable!"
"I understand!" No matter what Liu Chengyou said, Li Shaoyou agreed without any hesitation. But I couldn't help but mutter in my heart, the emperor is really hard to serve.
"Officials, it's time to return to the palace! Do you want to leave?" At this time, Zhao Yanjin, the Zhiyu Marquis of the East Ban of Chui Gong Hall, came in with a knife in hand to ask for instructions.
Zhao Hui, this son, is more clever than Li Chongju before him.
"The air outside the palace is fresh and free, making people feel more comfortable!" Liu Chengyou sighed leisurely, feeling like he was moaning for no reason, but he quickly stopped and said, "Go back!"
"Take these rice, noodles, meat and vegetables back to the palace!" Liu Chengyou did not forget to give the order.
"yes!"
In the house, there are some corn, rice, flour, chicken, duck, fish, vegetables, fruits and the like. That's right, Liu Chengyou came out of the palace this time not only to observe the public sentiment in Tokyo, but also to buy food.
Food prices in Tokyo are getting higher and higher. Taking rice as an example, the price of a bucket of rice jumped from 400 yen last year to more than 700 yen, nearly doubling. This is the result of the court's efforts to maintain it.
Of course, the reason why food prices are so high is not only due to lack of food, but also because money is worthless. Nowadays, there are too many old and bad money circulating in the market with inflated values. In addition to the various "Tongbao" forged and issued by the three generations of regimes over the decades, there are also many iron and lead coins. In addition, , there is also a lot of miscellaneous money from other countries...
The confusion of the currency system is evident. As for gold, silver, silk and other valuable items, ordinary people cannot afford them. In today's Han Dynasty, many places have returned to the state of bartering.
After observing this matter, Liu Chengyou knew that he and the court had another task to forge and release new money.
After returning to the palace, without having time to rest for a while, Liu Chengyou summoned Wang Zhang to discuss the matter of negotiating the price of grain and creating new money.
The issue of food prices is difficult to say, but simple in fact, as long as there is enough food.
The entire country is in a lean stage, and food sources in Tokyo are now very scarce. The ban on markets and grain in the Southern Tang Dynasty resulted in the loss of Jianghuai rice, which really caused a lot of trouble to the Han Dynasty. Liu Chengyou hated it deeply every time he thought about it.
However, there are always more solutions than difficulties. When it is difficult to increase the amount of grain and rice internally, we can only think of solutions from the outside.
It mainly comes from two aspects, one is Jingnan aspect. The King of Nanping, Gao Congjiao, not long ago sent an envoy to Kaifeng to accuse him, asking the court to forgive his previous sins and restore the good relationship between the king and his ministers. Liu Chengyou has not yet responded to this, so he can take this opportunity to divert grain from Jingnan to the north. The Gao family always has some grain in Jingnan. By the way, it can also make the "second and fifth son" of the Gao family feel disgusted with Southern Tang Dynasty.
The second is to make a deal with Hou Shu. In the previous episode, during the great victory at Ji Feng Mountain, some of the captured prisoners were sent to Tokyo and were assigned to the Huaiwei Army by Liu Chengyou, while the rest were still detained in Fengxiang.
Liu Chengyou planned to let Hou Shu redeem some of the Shu army generals. It was said that Meng Chang, the leader of Shu, was in the final stage of cleaning up the powerful officials. He would not let go of such an opportunity to enhance his reputation and win over the military's morale. As for the previous issue of hostility between the two countries, it can be put aside for the time being.
In comparison, building money is more troublesome. The first and most important problem is insufficient copper.
Where to find copper? In addition to prospecting and smelting, Liu Chengyou’s mind is full of Buddhist temples in China...
