"No need!" Wang Wenzuo shook his head, looking a little sad: "After all, he died because of me. Otherwise, if he had stayed at home in Qingzhou, he would still be alive and well now!"
Sancho opened his mouth, not knowing what to say for a moment, but finally whispered: "What should we do with the body? And what should we say to the outside world?"
"Pack it up, send people back to Qingzhou for burial, and give his father five hundred guan for burial! As for what to say to the outside world -" Wang Wenzuo hesitated: "Let's just say he died of a sudden illness!"
"Yes, I will get ready immediately!" Sancho responded and hurried out.
After Sangqiu left the yard, Wang Wenzuo calmed down and returned to the house. Cui Yunying was sitting on the bed and said with a smile: "Sanlang, I heard about the reputation of Chengdu Jinguan City when I was in Qingzhou. Today I am here. I just realized that the bedding on your bed is too plain, why not use some Sichuan brocade to make a complete set?"
"I'm used to being in the military, so how do I know these details!" Wang Wenzuo smiled: "If you like it, go to the outside shop tomorrow. If you like it, let them sew it and send it to you!"
"Well, this is my first time coming to Chengdu, and it's going to be an eye-opener!" Cui Yunying looked like she was gearing up. She turned around and saw Wang Wenzuo's face: "What's wrong with you, Sanlang? Did something happen? Could it be that something happened?" Or are you worried about being demoted?"
"Haha!" Wang Wenzuo laughed twice: "Not really, I just feel a little tired!"
"You're just working too hard!" Cui Yunying walked up behind Wang Wenzuo, gently massaging his temples, and said softly: "As an official like you, most of the things are left to the subordinates below. When the time comes, I’ll inform you and just nod! How can I have to do everything myself?”
"Yes!" Wang Wenzuo heard this with interest: "Madam, you know how to be an official?"
"Sanlang, don't you believe it?" Cui Yunying raised her chin proudly: "As the saying goes, governing a big country is like cooking small dishes. Managing a country is like preparing soup. How can a cook add firewood and water at one moment? No matter how good it is, It won't work after all this trouble with the materials. Unless there is a war with Tubo, my husband, it would be best for you to rule from the ground!"
Wang Wenzuo smiled. As the daughter of the Cui family, Cui Yunying spoke in an expert way. Ancient society was based on an agricultural economy, and the government's public services were actually very few. They basically resisted invasion from the outside and built water conservancy projects internally. In modern society, there are basically no promotion of improved seeds, new agricultural technologies, tools, etc., and they all rely on the private sector. Summarize and promote yourself. Therefore, high-ranking officials like Wang Wenzuo truly love the people as long as they don't fight and don't mess around. Other things like building city walls, armaments, and training militiamen are all activities that consume people's energy and accumulate social conflicts.
Later generations regarded this political attitude as conservative and unenterprising, but the problem is that the economic logic of ancient society is different from that of modern society. There was no exponential technological progress in the ancient world. No matter how much resources were invested in technological progress, the production growth that could be brought about would quickly diminish at the margin. The result was that the production growth brought about by technological progress would soon be eliminated. The ensuing population growth consumes it until, on average, there is not much left for each person.
In other words, farmers in all ancient societies, whether they lived in the Tang Dynasty, the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan, the Mauryan Dynasty in India, the Mughal Empire, ancient Egypt, or medieval Frankishness in Western Europe, were just above the food and clothing line, or simply at the level of food and clothing. The food and clothing line fluctuates up and down, but there is no qualitative difference in their living standards. In the words of Tokugawa Ieyasu: "You will never die of hunger even if you are not full!" Many people use this sentence to criticize Tokugawa Ieyasu for his cruelty to the peasants, but in fact, Tokugawa Ieyasu was not really famous among the ancient rulers. How cruel, and can even be said to be a small group of people who are quite diligent and caring for the people. The reason is very simple. For the vast majority of farmers in ancient societies, not having enough to eat but not dying of hunger is already a kind of happiness.
Seeing this, it is not difficult to understand the conservative and unprogressive political attitude of the ancient world. Since growth is non-exponential and unsustainable, for people living in ancient societies, the first priority was to ensure the supply of rations, not progress; because most people only had enough rations to maintain their Any slight fluctuation in what is needed for reproduction means starvation. A common citizen in modern society uses money to buy stocks. If Bitcoin fails, he loses everything and at most his wife gets divorced; while a farmer in ancient times squeezes out his rations to exchange for new varieties. If there is no harvest that year, his family is likely to die.
Although Wang Wenzuo made a lot of money by establishing trade routes and tea and horse trade with Tubo and the barbarians in the southwest, his actual effect on Sichuan was far less than 1% of that of Dujiangyan; Dujiangyan saved the people of Xichuan from floods and droughts It is known as the land of abundance; no matter how well Wang Wenzuo managed the tea-horse trade, as long as there is a great famine, everything will be back to zero. In the final analysis, people can only talk about other things if they have enough to eat.
Cui Yunying massaged for a while and found that Wang Wenzuo was silent and breathing slowly, as if he was asleep, so he stopped massaging and took a thin blanket from the side to put on her husband. But I heard Wang Wenzuo say: "No, just sit down for a while and you'll be fine! I have something to do, let's deal with it first!"
"Do you want to come back for dinner?" Cui Yunying asked.
"Not necessarily yet, you don't have to wait for me. If you come back late, just heat up the leftovers!" Wang Wenzuo stood up, straightened his clothes and walked out. He came to the Yamen and called Cui Hongdu: "Hongdu, there is something that must be arranged in advance!"
"What's up?"
"The imperial court may transfer me back to Chang'an!" Wang Wenzuo waved his hand to stop Cui Hongdu's questioning: "This is just news. It has not been confirmed yet. You don't need to ask why, just be prepared first!"
"Yes!" Cui Hongdu glanced at Wang Wenzuo and thought to himself that it was probably Sanqiu who brought the news from Chang'an. He was so sure that it was probably from the East Palace. He really shouldn't ask the reason: "What should we do?"
"When I came to Songju, I brought thousands of people with me. Most of them were good archers who followed us in Wa, Baekje, and Liaodong. We paid for their military salaries and acres of land. Now if I want to go Chang'an, these people definitely can't go to Chang'an with me, and it's not appropriate to stay in Jiannan Road. After all, the person who replaces me may not be able to provide money and food, so it may cause trouble!"
"That's true!" Cui Hongdu nodded: "Those people have been following you, Sanlang, for many years. They have already developed a master-slave relationship and have land, money and food, so they are willing to go out of their way to kill the thieves. It would be different if it were someone else. If not, there will be a mutiny, which will be troublesome!"
"Yes!" Wang Wenzuo nodded: "So I plan to make preparations in advance. Let's do this! The people who follow us from Japan, Baekje, and Liaodong will leave five hundred people behind, and the rest will each be given five guans, and then take a boat Go down the river to Yangzhou, then take a boat from Yangzhou and return to your hometown."
"Okay, by the way, where are the sword players recruited from Yangzhou, as well as the Tibetan prisoners and Qiang soldiers recruited?"
"These can be left to the successor! Otherwise, there will be too few troops on hand to fight!" Wang Wenzuo said: "I will leave this matter to you. Don't be afraid of spending money, but don't make too much noise. Do you understand? "
"Understood!" Cui Hongdu nodded.
After giving orders to demobilize the stragglers, Wang Wenzuo let out a long breath. Since ancient times, soldiers garrisoning far away have been the source of trouble. Firstly, soldiers who are far away from home will be homesick and prone to resentment; secondly, when soldiers are far away from home, they will naturally become more If you stick together in a group, you will have less scruples in doing things. In the event of a mutiny, this kind of army will have no place to escape after being defeated, and its combat effectiveness will be very tenacious. Therefore, it often happens that a few thousand tired soldiers can travel thousands of miles and win repeated battles. Case. Wang Wenzuo was able to drive them because he controlled their homeland and had the financial resources to pay them. If it were another person, if there was a mutiny in a place like Xichuan, no matter what the consequences, the Western Mansion of the Tang Dynasty would definitely be gone, or it would be pre-empted It’s good to get rid of this hidden danger.
"Hope everything goes well!" Wang Wenzuo sighed. The words "gathering the crowd and driving the crowd" are often used in ancient Chinese history books to refer to commanding the army. Wang Wenzuo had to admit that this is a very vivid word. In the eyes of the ancients, the army was like a group of wild beasts that might attack the enemy or themselves. An excellent general is like an animal tamer. He can use rewards and punishments to drive his soldiers to victory, but if he is not careful, he will be counterattacked by the army. Therefore, for a general, victory is far from the end. Only after disbanding the army can he truly feel at ease.
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Qingyang Si is a good place for medicine.
"Dongzhu Cai, Dongzhu Cai!" A man in green quickly walked into the door and shouted: "Is Dongzhu Cai here?"
"What's the matter?" A waiter came up to him: "Sir, do you want to take medicine or write a prescription?"
"Oh, who wants to grab medicine and write a prescription!" The man in Tsing Yi said anxiously: "Where is your boss Cai? I have something urgent to ask him!"
"What's important?" The waiter laughed: "My boss has too many important things! This is the Good Medicine House. If you want to buy medicine and prescribe it, please come in. If you don't want it, please come back!"
"Oh, the sky is about to fall!" The man in green stamped his feet and said, "Quick, find your boss, or it will be too late!"
The clerks at Shanyaoju didn't take it seriously at all. Ever since Cai Dingshan reported Wang Ence's favor, Shanyaoju's status in the Chengdu business community has also risen, and the horizons of these clerks and shopkeepers have also become much higher. In their eyes, the master and the governor can talk to each other, so how can these inexplicable cats and dogs just bother them? If there aren't many of these guys who deliberately talk alarmistly so that they can take advantage of their master, it would be better to drive them out. So a few guys gathered around, took the hands and feet of the man in green, carried him out, and threw him on the street. The guy in charge laughed and said, "I don't know where the rogue came from. Take a pee and see what you look like? Is Mr. Cai the one you can meet whenever you want? If you bother me again, you'll get a stick!"
The man in green was thrown so hard that he couldn't get up for a while, so he sat on the street and shouted: "The young man is dead, why don't you let me see Mr. Cai!"
Just when Zhuge Wen came out of the store, he heard the man in green clothes shouting, his face changed slightly, and he shouted: "How can you shout in the street like this? Why don't you bring that guy over?"
The waiter recognized Zhuge Wen and quickly pulled the man in green over. Zhuge Wen frowned: "You just said that the young man is dead. What do you mean?"
"The young man is Wang Ence!" said the man in green: "Yesterday afternoon, someone came to call for the young man, so he went. That night, news came that the young man had an emergency attack and could not be saved. He came over and died immediately, so I came to see Mr. Cai, but these murderers stopped me from seeing him!"
When Zhuge Wen heard this, his expression changed drastically. He glared at the waiters fiercely and shouted, "Why don't you take me to the back of the hall quickly? You almost ruined a big deal!"
The waiters were so frightened that they hurriedly took the man in green to the back of the hall. Zhuge Wen sent people to find Cai Dingshan and asked carefully: "Where is the mansion you mentioned? Also, who informed you, Xiao Lang?" You are dead? Where is your body?"
"The residence is naturally Wang Jinglue's residence! As for the one who informed us, it was a soldier from the residence, and the body is still in the residence!"
"Wang Jinglue's house?" Zhuge Wen was surprised. Since Wang Wenzuo was already the commander of military affairs and military affairs, many others called him Wang Jinglue. In Zhuge Wen's eyes, Wang Wenzuo was still Wang Ence's elder brother, so it seems that Wang Ence's death had nothing to do with Wang Wenzuo.
"Then do you remember when Xiao Langjun went there and when you received the news of his death?"
"When I left the house at a quarter past noon, the messenger who announced the news just after dark came to the door!"
"That's only three hours at most!" Zhuge Wen said nothing, thinking to himself: "If the time on the way back and forth is deducted, the time from when Wang Ence arrived at Wang Wenzuo to the time he died was probably only about two hours, but in his own memory Here, Wang Ence is in good health and has no symptoms. It seems that the possibility of death from a sudden illness is very slim. Most likely his death is related to Wang Wenzuo!"
"Have you told anyone else about this?" Zhuge Wen asked.
"No, after I learned about Xiao Langjun's death, I came here directly and didn't go to any other place on the way!"
"Okay!" Zhuge Wen called his housekeeper: "Immediately take twenty young men to Xiao Langjun's residence and take care of it. Don't let the matter spread. Wait until Cai Gong and I have discussed it. Claim!”
"Yes!" The housekeeper responded and went out.
Zhuge Wen sighed and said to the man in green: "Now, tell me what Xiaolangjun has done in the past few days, who he has met, and what he has said. As long as you know it, tell me in detail from beginning to end." Again, this is very important, you know?”
Many thanks to Madhouse Talking about Good Years, Galactic Host Eating Steak, and most of all, Hayek, Xinxiang Poor Students and other book friends for the rewards!
(End of chapter)
