On the wall of Tongguan City, the soldiers opened their mouths in great surprise.
The newly built first-class national highway is actually very wide, covering almost the entire ravine below the plateau. However, as soon as the huge four-wheeled carriage got on the road, it felt that only such a wide road could allow such "luxury cars" to pass smoothly.
hinder.
As expected, the imperial court took one step at a time and followed three steps when doing things. There were roads first and then there were cars. The rules and regulations were so clear that people were speechless.
"Stand straight, don't look around!" An officer came over and used his scabbard to knock several sergeants who were leaning on the parapet to look around, and reminded them.
The once important town of Xiongguan is no longer guarded by serious sergeants.
In the early years, the Zhenguo Army was the last regular army to guard Tongguan. After this army was disbanded and merged into the Forbidden Army, Guannaidao used to dispatch state soldiers from various states to defend Tongguan on a rotational basis. Later, they basically recruited local men from Tutuan to guard the pass.
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Now, even the number of Tu Tuan villagers has been greatly reduced. There are only a few thousand people who can guard Tongguan! Their biggest role is to guard the various tunnels near Tongguan under the command of the tax collector and intercept those who try to take paths to enter and exit.
Businessmen in Guanzhong, don't let them evade taxes.
After the establishment of Daxia, although there were three capitals, anyone with a discerning eye knew that Luoyang was the main one. The military value of Tongguan was greatly reduced. It is estimated that from now on, it will be guarded by rural warriors in rotation.
Unless the imperial court stays in Chang'an for a long time, the importance of Pujin Pass and Tongguan will be greatly increased, and they will become the inner six passes and garrison heavy troops like the former Tang Dynasty.
But this is probably not possible.
"Long live our emperor!" The holy driver appeared far away on the post road. Officials, local tyrants, gentry, and elders from Tongzhou, Huazhou and even Puzhou across the way stood beside the road and shouted in unison.
"Long live my emperor!" No one gave the order, and the villagers in Tongguan also raised their voices sparsely.
Commander Xiangyong was a little surprised.
He is a retired soldier of the Forbidden Army, a native of Yanzhou, and a former Taining Army soldier. Although he is respectful and obedient to the saint, he never has this kind of heartfelt support.
In fact, he was very curious, what benefits did the saint give to the people of Kansai, and why did they deserve this?
"Why is this so?" He walked up to a familiar sergeant and asked in a low voice.
The sergeant glanced at him and said in a low voice: "My three brothers only have less than forty acres of land, which is very barren. When my father was still alive, he always said that if such barren land was given to you three brothers, I'm afraid it would
No one can live a good life."
The conductor nodded, this was indeed the truth.
This group of people came from Gyeongju, which was originally a poor place. Some counties and towns were still short of water, and there was not much harvest from farming. If thirty or forty acres of land were divided among three brothers, taxes would be removed.
If you starve to death, you will have to eat a lot of wild vegetables, fruits and vegetables in certain seasons, and your living standard will simply drop off a cliff.
"So, my father left all the land to me, saying that this was the will of the saint, and the eldest brother will inherit everything." The sergeant continued: "The second brother and the third brother took some floating wealth and went to Xiangyang. Last year, there was a businessman from my hometown.
I went to Xiangyang to buy tea, and when I came back I brought letters from my second and third brothers, saying that they had settled down in Nanzhang County, and that the second brother had married a daughter-in-law and had enough to eat."
After the conductor listened, he didn't know what to say.
According to the concept of their hometown, this seems inappropriate. The brothers are separated, and they are all alone. No one can help them if something happens. It doesn’t feel right no matter how you think about it. But what they said is true. Are we all poor together?
The three brothers divided the family property, each with more than ten acres of land. After paying the taxes, they might be able to eat enough by themselves, but what about if they married a wife and had children? The couple plus two or three children would have to eat up all the leftovers in a year.
If there is a little bit of surplus grain and a bad harvest, we will go hungry.
When the children grew up, not only did their appetites increase greatly, but they also faced the dilemma of another family separation. This time, it would be really troublesome. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't have enough to eat.
From this point of view, it seems to make some sense. However, after all, it is difficult to leave your hometown, and the ancestral graveyards are all there. If you go to another place, you will be rootless. Once you are bullied, there will be no one to help you.
The commander still couldn't accept it. The world is peaceful now. If you stay in your hometown, you can always find some odd jobs in Hukou, right? If you really have no choice, you can just rob passing merchants, just like Thief Cai.
"Long live our emperor!" The holy driver stopped on the post road, and the emperor and empress got out of the car hand in hand. The sergeant shouted twice more.
Kansai is really the iron plate of the emperor! The commander thought to himself. Xuan thought that he was also from Kansai, and his family members who were far away in Yanzhou would also move here before the end of the year. One day in the future, his son would be like this in the city.
Shouting?
At the foot of Tongguan City, a group of business travelers who were preparing to take a detour to the forbidden pit also stopped.
They came from Jingzhou, carrying several carts of tea, and were preparing to cross Tongguan and enter Guanzhong. However, it was impossible at the moment. There were Forbidden Army horse and infantry soldiers everywhere, driving the rest of the people far away, so they had to go to the Forbidden Pit.
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"Even if someone seeks to usurp the throne in the future, as long as the descendants of the Shao family run to Chang'an, it will be a situation where the two emperors of the east and west stand side by side." Someone said: "It's strange now. He is not from Guanzhong, so how can so many people do it?
Chanting?”
"Qilang, you will die sooner or later with this mouth." Another person scolded: "You can arrange this now? If someone reports you, we will be implicated too."
"It's okay for Wang Shifan to arrange for Li Tang's harem to be raped and humiliated. What does that mean to me?" Qilang was unconvinced and retorted.
"What Wang Shifan said is true. What you said - bah, you got me in." The person who spoke laughed angrily and said, "Anyway, if you don't change, I won't take you out.
Just stay in the mountains and watch the tea fields for the rest of your life, so that you won’t get into trouble."
Shichiro was obviously a little scared.
He was not afraid of today, but he was afraid of living in the mountains for the rest of his life, so he changed the topic and said: "Third brother, that four-wheeled carriage looks very good. Can we buy one and take it back? It shouldn't be complicated. Let's go back and take it apart."
Look, find someone to make it and use it to transport tea in the future. It should be very convenient."
"I heard it was made by the Ministry of Internal Affairs..." The third brother hesitated: "They use it to make money in business, so I'm afraid it's not easy to allow outsiders to make it. But it's really good. It's much better than mule carts and donkey carts. It's used to transport goods.
If so, I estimate that I can save half the money, or even more."
"As long as we can create it, even if the saint sleeps with Queen He of the former Tang Dynasty, it will be fine." Qi Lang got the third brother's approval, and he smiled playfully again, and stopped talking.
The third brother was so angry that he kicked him and said, "Hurry up!"
Qilang touched his butt and drove the carriage away first.
The third brother was worried, so he chased after you and said earnestly: "I know you are young and energetic, you have been a martial artist, and you are not convinced by anyone, but it is different now."
"How is it different?" Qilang asked.
"I have been very kind to us merchants today," said the third brother with a serious face.
“Where does grace come from?”
"We didn't bring many copper coins with us when we went out this time."
"I'm also surprised about this." Qilang was going out for the first time, so he really didn't understand much about this, so he asked, "Aren't there still silks?"
"That silk is sold to a wealthy family in Chang'an for making clothes, not for money." The third brother said: "The eldest brother has a stack of silver dollar bills from Chang'anfang City in his arms. These are used for business."
Qilang seemed to understand it all at once. He had seen this thing before, but he just didn't pay much attention to it and didn't think about it in detail.
"Understood?" The third brother glanced at him sideways and said, "With this thing, the business can be done several times better, and the people will also benefit from it."
The merchants know how much business has been lost due to currency issues, and it is simply uncountable. With silver dollar notes, how much more tea can be sold in a year? And if more tea is sold, the price will slowly fall. Ordinary people
You can also get real benefits.
This is true for tea, isn't it true for other products?
To put it bluntly, there is actually no shortage of goods in this world, and some products should not be so expensive. For example, their family used to select the best batches from the tea gardens and sell them, but they could not sell more. But now
There are more merchants holding silver dollar tickets to inquire about prices, and tea that could not be sold in the past can be sold to outsiders. This increases income - the income from selling tea increases, and tea buyers also benefit, and the government can collect more.
Everyone is happy with the tea money.
"According to what you say, isn't the saint the ancestor of our merchants? He should build a temple to offer incense." Qilang asked stupidly.
The third brother laughed, kicked him again, and said, "Who dares to worship the emperor?"
After kicking him, he said again: "But someone has said this before."
"who?"
"Kansai merchants," the third brother said, "a group of upstarts who made a fortune by buying and selling woolen cloth."
Qilang heard the meaning of sourness from the third brother's mouth. Obviously, the business of woolen cloth was no worse than tea, and even more profitable. After all, you would not die if you didn't drink tea, and it would be uncomfortable to wear without a sweater.
He subconsciously touched the sweater on his body. It was a little prickly and not soft enough, but it was really warm.
"Many of those merchants were originally very poor." The third brother continued: "But they were brave, visionary, and ruthless enough to get involved in the woolen cloth trade before others did, and they suddenly made a fortune.
Today, I am full of praise. In the past, I had a chat with several of them in Pudeyi. They also sent their sons who were skilled in bow and horse to join the army and went to Liaodong to conquer the Bohai Sea to express their gratitude. Today, with such prestige,
Who has done that?”
"When the Prince of Le'an County went to Luoyang, didn't the people in Guanzhong also shout long live?" Qi Lang muttered, and then made a clever move to avoid another kick from his brother.
"No one in Chang'an misses Prince Le'an now." The third brother almost stumbled. After regaining his balance, he said angrily: "I will go to the West Market in a few days and find more people to talk to. You can
We know who is the real saint in the hearts of the people in Guanzhong. In the former Tang Dynasty, the government urged classes, and the people had no money, so they were eager to grab the land. Now that we have silver dollar tickets, we merchants do not need to hoard so many copper coins. In the hands of the people,
Then there will be less need, and it will not be so difficult to pay taxes. Think about it, what a kindness this is."
Qilang finally became serious and said, "I want to take a good look."
After saying that, he looked back to the north.
In the post road surrounded by groups of forbidden soldiers, the umbrellas were like clouds and the cheers were like thunder.
Some emperors can make people awe and feel their majesty.
Some emperors can make people love them and feel their kindness.
It all sounds good, but these are two levels, one is heaven and the other is earth, and they are very different.