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, got in and was unwilling to come out again.
The migratory birds have long since left, and the resident birds in Guanzhong have been frozen to death without knowing it. At this time when everything is withering, 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, he was also a high-spirited general who conquered the world. When he was galloping in the Central Plains, he also wanted to go to farther places to see different scenery.
But times have changed, and for Li Shimin, his youth ended on the day he won the throne.
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 were for national affairs and war, and it was 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 guan of silver 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 guan... 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 of the palace had to be collected again and again.
The next day, today was 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 unacceptable.
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 are no longer in the Manna Hall, and the queen feels a lot more relaxed. She takes 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 was very surprised. Is this a new way of eating that His Majesty discovered? At this moment, Zhang Yang felt like an egg in Li Shimin's heart.
Under the calm expression, the emperor's heart was full of anger. The queen still didn't know what Lishan had harvested, so Li Shimin whispered: "Guanyin maid, I am eating clear porridge here at the moment. Do you know what Zhang Yang is eating at this time?"
"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. The Queen frowned and looked at him. He could lose his temper in front of anyone, but Li Shimin finally restrained himself in front of his married wife.
"Queen, Lishan sent a lot of money."
"Send money?" Empress Changsun looked outside the palace, and sure enough she had sent a box of money and a box of soap.
"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 all 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 were also three hundred pieces 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 at the Li Zheng Palace were worried that His Majesty would bite the bowl to pieces and break his mouth. What should they do?
After breakfast, Li Shimin left the Zhengzheng Hall with an expressionless face. In the past, meals were eaten after breakfast in the morning, after Chen time, 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, I changed my eating habits.
After breakfast, I was indeed more energetic, and I no longer felt as sleepy as before. Li Shimin walked into the Manna Hall and said loudly: "Here comes someone!"
"Your Majesty, I'm here." Wang Gonggong stepped forward and bowed. Li Shimin wanted to say that he would send a hundred thousand troops to rob Lishan now, but he once again controlled the thought of looting Lishan.
"Summon Fang Xuanling and Duke Zheng."
"Here." This was originally 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. He wanted to settle these matters in the coming year at the beginning of the court. He also had to handle them carefully to minimize the impact on the court as much as possible.
Half an hour later, Wei Zheng and Fang Xuanling walked into the palace together. Li Shimin took out a memorial and
"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 Luoyang incident, news spread to Chang'an City. At this moment, many people in Chang'an were talking about it.
This incident was too big. After Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng finished reading the memorial, Li Shimin said in a deep voice with no expression on his face: "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 of the merchants are dependent on the powerful.
Gradually, most of these businessmen were controlled by the powerful, and they became the money bags in the hands of the powerful. If there are businessmen who resist the aristocratic family, no matter how much money you have, you will be eaten up by the local powerful and powerful people.
Businessmen are always the most insecure type of 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 exchange between officials and clans was formed. Wei Zheng raised his hands and said solemnly: "I thought someone was behind this matter, and he had a plan for it."
"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 more unfavorable to get an official position. Fang Xuanling whispered what he thought in his heart. Throughout the ages, farmers with fields that can be cultivated have been nobler than businessmen.
And 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 is essentially a robbery of aristocratic families.
Because of this incident, Li Shimin felt more and more that the businessman was doing something terrible. Wei Zheng stepped forward and said,
"Your Majesty, I think the problem 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 largest 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 huge. But the imperial court has another kind of affection for Lishan. Lishan gives the imperial court nearly 10,000 guan in taxes every year, and last year it paid 8,000 guan in taxes.
It also solved the urgent need of the court. Is it possible that Lishan should not be sold and bought? On the one hand, Li Shimin would not admit that his daughter was a businessman, and Zhang Yang was ranked among the six ministers and was the minister of the Zhongshu Province.
If we really want to say who is a merchant, we can only say that all the villagers in Lishan are merchants. 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 beginning to end. As for the relationship between buying and selling, it is all done by various businessmen.
Lishan did not have any shops in Chang'an City, nor did he engage in buying or selling. From one point of view, Zhang Yang was not considered a merchant.
However, this gave the emperor a headache. Prime Minister Zheng Gong and His Majesty discussed for a long time in the Manlu Palace. Finally, in the afternoon of the same day, Wang Gonggong 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 was really distressing to see them all malnourished. Li Lizhi took Gao Yang and Dongyang together and brought out rice porridge to feed them.
It was the brothers from the Braised Pork Gang who brought these bears. Zhang Yang sent them off personally and took out a letter,
"Please also ask the two brothers to 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 little brown bears in total, as if they had just been weaned. The little bears came with their huge bodies twisting, looked at these thin bears, and then walked away.
There was a bit of disgust in its eyes, as if these milk bears would destroy its prestige as the overlord of the party.
Bears are very capable of adapting to the environment. As long as they have enough food, they can grow very fast. Dongyang watched a milk bear crawling towards him, which made several little girls giggle.
Zhang Yang looked aside 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 was clawing away at the upper layer of frozen soil in the field, trying to save its face as a bear.
The brown bear plowing the field is a very unique scene. Especially now that it is using up its inexhaustible strength, after being hitched to the plow, it can plow the field no slower than an ox.
It is just five years old and is the youngest and strongest. It 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 walking quickly.
"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 and said,
"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 and Zheng Gong have discussed that the county prince is not a businessman, and the products produced by Lishan are not actively involved in the sale. Lishan is in Chang'an City or
There are no shops in other places, so the county prince is not a merchant..." Listening to his words, Zhang Yang paced back and forth and thought, Lishan did not actively participate in the business, and Lishan was considered a large collective production model.
The nature of these merchants is different from that of merchants. These merchants who purchase goods from Lishan are real merchants 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's behavior is like a big favor. It saves Lishan from the possibility of being liquidated? After all, it is still the power of the emperor, and it is also the advice of capable people in Li Shimin's hands.
They knew the importance of Lishan. Li Shimin had never thought of dealing with Lishan. Instead of not taking action, it would be better to give him 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 Gonggong still smiled and said,
"From now on, Lishan operations are not allowed to set up shops. Everything else remains the same, 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, sir.
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 are free to take a bath in the middle of the court now..." This didn't sound right. He wanted to say something else, but the county prince 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."
"Resurrection during the Chinese New Year? What kind of rebirth? Just say that the Supreme Emperor has left you behind."