"The emperor shows his virtues and benefits, and orders his officials to distribute warehouses and villages. He provides gifts to the poor and encourages the poor." [Book of Rites·Monthly Order]
The sun is shining brightly in Chang'an City, and the dark-colored tiles seem to be illuminated by a layer of golden light. Even the shadows are much lighter, and even under the shade of the trees, the heat is almost suffocating.
As a city where tens of thousands of people live and work, there are many ditches and small rivers that flow from the city into Weiyang Palace Cangchi, and then flow out from it, running through the entire city. They communicate with the moat, connect the canal, and merge into the Wei River to the north. There is a ditch in it,
It was built by the Emperor Xiaoai in those days. Its purpose was to divert water through Chang'an City and pour it into Taicang to save the cost of transportation.
At that time, Taicang had surrounding ditches to prevent sparks, and wide areas and deep warehouses to store grains and grains. Before the ZTE, Taicang in Chang'an was an important warehouse for the imperial court; after the ZTE, Taicang in Chang'an was still a food reserve for the imperial court to deal with the war between the Western Qiang.
Since the imperial court moved the capital, the ancient Taicang, located south of the arsenal and west of Anmen Street, has been renovated and expanded to continuously store grains, turning it from its original war zone grain warehouse into the premier granary of the year.
Even though the sun was scorching hot, a few people standing on the edge of the ditch that can be used for boating near Taicang, looking forward to it, were blowing the cool breeze from the water, and their bodies did not feel hot at all. On the contrary, their bodies
But I felt extremely restless in my heart.
"How is it? Are you here?" A middle-aged man with black and white hair was pacing back and forth on the verandah on the embankment. He was wearing a bright red court dress, a beam crown on his head, and a black ribbon around his waist.
A small copper nose button official seal symbolizes the identity of the owner's six hundred stones.
Several small boats were docked beside the canal, and there were thirty or forty officials on the embankment following the middle-aged man.
This person was one of the "Five Orders" of Liu He, the great minister of agriculture, and Wang Jiang, the order of Taicang.
Before he finished speaking, he saw several small boats slowly coming up the ditch in the distance. In addition to the boatman, there were two young men standing on the first boat, one behind the other.
Wang Jiang hurriedly walked into the sunshine and stretched his head to look at the bank of the canal. He saw a breeze blowing. The man standing in the front was wearing similar clothes to Wang Jiang. He had no accessories on his body and looked elegant and simple. That man
His clothes were moving with the wind, and a black ribbon copper seal was looming around his waist. The copper official seal reflected the golden light in the sun. Seeing his light-hearted attitude, Wang Jiang had some kind of illusion for a moment, thinking that the other party
What he wears is not a six-hundred-stone copper seal, but the key to the world's wealth.
Seeing that the boat was about to dock, Wang Jiang couldn't help but walk down the stone steps. As soon as he reached the water's edge, the man on the boat jumped off in flattery, and quickly held his hands in his hands and said: "Your Majesty, you are really embarrassing this junior!"
"Mr. Mi!" Wang Jiang called him affectionately. He was a straight-forward person. He didn't bother to exchange pleasantries at the moment and said directly: "I have been looking forward to you for a long time!"
Junshu Ling Mi Zhu, who was also a subordinate of Da Sinong, smiled when he heard this. He still spoke in a calm and calm tone: "Don't dare, don't dare!" He said a few words politely, and then turned around appropriately.
Introducing another person accompanying him: "This is Ping Zhun Cheng Bao Chu. Jia Gong is still in mourning period and has not returned. All the duties of Ping Zhun Supervisor will be taken over by him. This time, His Majesty has something to say, saying that 'the government releases grain
, Each one carries out its own policy, and it is difficult to achieve the effect of overall coordination. Therefore, the special envoys are evenly matched and all lose. The three supervisors in Taicang work together to stabilize prices."
"There is no clear edict?" Wang Jiang carefully discovered the unusualness in Mi Zhu's words.
"If there is an explicit edict and it is easy for the wealthy merchants in Guanzhong to find out, this matter should be a surprise." Mi Zhu obviously came with the king's orders. Every word and deed directly revealed the emperor's intention, and his words were also a little decisive: "Your Majesty said
We should treat this stabilization of grain prices as a battle and prepare our troops. Those wealthy businessmen are unkind and unjust. This time is not to make them retreat in fear, but to wipe out these gangsters in one fell swoop to serve as a warning.
Future generations, please help the people!"
It was rare for Mi Zhu to say such serious words. Wang Jiang was stunned for a moment. He knew that this was not the place to talk under the scorching sun, so he stretched out his hand to signal Mi Zhu to move. Mi Zhu politely declined for a while and walked side by side with Wang Jiang.
Going up the stone steps, as for Ping Zuncheng Bao Chu, Wang Jiang never took a serious look at him from beginning to end. Although Bao Chu had the reputation of being a filial piety who killed thieves and saved his mother, Wang Jiang still had the power of Ping Zuncheng to spy on him.
This pure scholar had some instinctive displeasure.
Bao Chu's expression did not change, he just let out a breath and patted his waist with his right hand habitually, and the dull leather scabbard made a "snap" sound. This seemed to make him feel at ease.
After a while, he raised his legs and followed Mi Zhu and others towards Taicang.
"The most important thing in Guanzhong is in Jingzhao, and the most important thing in Jingzhao is in Chang'an." Since he was entrusted by the emperor, Wang Jiang always expressed his consciousness that Mi Zhu was the leader. What's more, Mi Zhu's identity was extraordinary and had nothing to do with it.
General Wei Wang Bin was related by marriage, which was equivalent to being a confidant of the emperor. Naturally, Wang Jiang did not dare to neglect him. Mi Zhu did not refuse after being polite. He did not choose to go to the official office where Wang Jiang worked to speak, but asked Wang Jiang to take the lead.
He and Bao came out to the largest grain cellar here.
This warehouse is composed of dozens of warehouses. Because it has a long history, it is an old warehouse that has been used from the previous dynasty. Its storage space and conditions are large enough, so it was named "Xingping" warehouse by the emperor. Xingping warehouse
From the outside, it looks like just a few large houses with ordinary regulations. When you walk inside, there is nothing except a tall cone-shaped earth mountain and piles of grain scattered around it.
Mi Zhu handled countless goods when he was in the East China Sea. In this Xingping warehouse, which is known as the largest in Taicang, he just glanced at it casually and roughly calculated that the grain stored in this warehouse was only six or seven thousand shi.
Such a small number really deserves the name of "Xingping", but Mi Zhu was not surprised. Instead, he confidently walked towards the center under the guidance of Wang Jiang. As he walked, he continued to follow the previous words: "That's why."
, As long as prices in Chang'an are stable, there will be no more ripples in the Guanzhong, this battle."
He suddenly stopped at a place, turned sideways slowly, faced Wang Jiang, Bao Chu and others, and said with certainty: "The imperial court will win."
Wang Jiang responded in a deep voice: "Mr. Mi is right. The price of goods in Guanzhong is related to the livelihood of the common people. Government relief alone is not enough to cope with it. We have to rely on Taicang."
Mi Zhuping stared at the raised cone-shaped loess in front of him. After hearing these words, his expression moved slightly, but he did not respond. Bao Chu, who was silent on the side, seemed to have finally found his voice and said sonorously: "Relief is
Regarding government affairs, the imperial court has sent censors to various counties, so there is no need for Taicang to come forward. For the current plan, what Taicang has to do is to cooperate in attacking the merchants, so that everyone will lose!"
Wang Jiang frowned and couldn't help but glance at Bao Chu. Seeing that he looked confident, as if he had been stabbed by something, he turned to look at Mi Zhu: "Is this also what the country means?"
"Relieve the victims, stabilize prices, and do their own thing. Only in this way can we achieve the effect of overall planning." Seeing that the other party was asking questions, Mi Zhu couldn't avoid it, so he had to say gently: "Do you not believe me, prince?"
Such a big thing is that Wang Jiang naturally believes that the other party will not cheat. He has been a marginal figure for a long time. He can sit in the position of Taicang Ling all because he has been practical and steady over the years and does not get involved in right and wrong. Since
Since Mi Zhu dared to take the responsibility, Wang Jiang didn't say anything more and bypassed the topic. He pointed at the wide and long earth mountain in front of him, like a tomb mound, and said: "There are twenty hidden things here."
All the stones of wheat and millet are mixed and buried with wheat bran, dry soil, straw mats and other materials. I have asked people to clear away some of the debris on it these days, and I will wait for Lord Mi to come with the king's order before we can break ground and open the warehouse."
"How many similar warehouses are there in Taicang?" Mr. Mi asked after briefly observing the sealing soil and making sure that there were no traces of human intervention.