Behind the Zixiao Palace are three side-by-side halls. The one in the middle is the Lingxiao Palace, which is dedicated to the gods of heaven, including the Six Emperors. On the left is the Sanqing Palace, which is dedicated to the gods of the Three Pure Ones and Taoism.
On the right is the Hall of Sages, which is dedicated to Nuwa, including the Chao clan, the Suiren clan, the Fuxi clan, the Shennong clan, the Yellow Emperor, Yao, Shun, and Yu, etc.
After that, there are all the underworld gods, the goddess of giving birth to children, the god of wealth, the god of plague, the god of medicine, the Kitchen God, the civil and military stars, the longevity star, the old man of the moon, etc.
Their temple is much smaller, so it is more appropriate to call it Tang, but out of respect, it is still called Dian.
Li Shimin led the civil and military officials to worship all the gods and burn the first stick of incense.
After going around in this big circle, we really walked a long way. Chen Jingke was sweating all over his body, and the fat man Li Tai looked as if he had been fished out of the water.
Li Shimin let everyone move freely, and he accompanied Sun Simiao to the backyard to rest. However, before he had walked a few steps, he heard an exclamation from behind.
"Uncle Bao, Uncle Bao..."
"General Qin, General Qin fainted..."
"Hurry and invite Master Sun..."
Li Shimin quickly stopped and said: "Ren Feng, go see what happened."
"Here." Ren Feng quickly trotted over to inquire about the situation. Not long after, he hurried back and said, "Sage, Duke Yi Guo has fainted."
"What?" Li Shimin was shocked and quickly said to Sun Simiao, "I'd like to bother you, Master, to take a look."
Sun Simiao said: "Okay, please, Your Majesty."
Chen Jingke also wanted to take a look. Firstly, it was Qin Shubao. Secondly, it was a grand celebration for Zixiao Temple to open today, and he didn't want any tragedy to happen.
Unexpectedly, he was grabbed by Changsun Wugou before he could move.
He looked at her doubtfully, only to see her shaking her head: "Don't draw attention to yourself."
Chen Jingke immediately understood what she meant and kept a low profile to hide his identity to prevent anyone from targeting him. Thinking of his own safety, he flinched and retracted the leg he had already taken.
"Let's go and see where you live." Changsun Wugou thought it was not safe enough, so he pulled him towards the backyard.
Chen Jingke followed behind in a daze. It was indeed against his will to refuse to save anyone, but he really didn't want to put himself in danger.
Changsun Wugou saw what was on his mind, sighed secretly, and said, "Don't feel guilty. The sages said that a gentleman should not stand under a dangerous wall. Only by protecting yourself can you save more people."
"Dong Qiyi is not seriously ill, it is caused by excessive bleeding in the battlefield when he was young. The imperial doctor asked him to take good care of himself. It should be that he fainted due to walking too much today and will not be life-threatening."
Chen Jingke felt much better and said, "Thank you, aunt, for comforting me. I understand."
"If it's anemia, I really don't have a good solution, but I do know that some dietary supplements and blood nourishing methods may be able to improve his condition. Well, this method is also applicable to women who are suffering from ischemia."
Changsun Wugou suddenly became interested and asked: "What method?"
Chen Jingke said: "Eat more pig blood, pig liver, red dates, kiwi fruit, pinpo fruit (apple)...the best way is donkey hide gelatin boiled with Dong'e well water."
At this point, Chen Jingke clapped his hands and said, "Yes, donkey-hide gelatin, why did you forget this?"
Changsun Wugou knew that he had thought of something good, so he quickly asked: "What is donkey-hide gelatin?"
Li Chengqian, Li Lizhi and others also looked over curiously.
Chen Jingke said excitedly: "The glue made from Dong'e well water and donkey skin is a holy product for replenishing blood. It can also beautify the skin and delay aging. It can also moisten the lungs and relieve coughs..."
The eyes of Changsun Wujia and Li Lizhi immediately widened. They didn't hear any other effects, only eight words: beautifying and nourishing the skin, delaying aging.
Changsun Wugou said: "Don't be impatient. Speak slowly. Where does the water from Dong'a Well come from? Do you have to use the water from here?"
Chen Jingke said: "You have to use water from here. Water boiled from other places cannot produce this effect. Dong'a Well is an ancient well in Dong'a County. It seems that there is something written in Huainanzi about the well dug by Yi Bo."
"Haha...Gah..." Li Tai couldn't hold back his laughter, but as soon as he laughed twice, he saw his mother and sister staring at him coldly. He held it back again, shrank his neck and said hurriedly.
:
""Huainanzi·Benjingxun" says: Boyi built a well, and the dragon climbed up to the mysterious cloud."
Chen Jingke's face was a little red, but he was so cheeky and said: "Erlang is indeed knowledgeable and memorized. It is the well dug by Boyi. It should be easy to find."
"Use the water in this well to boil donkey skin, and three pounds of donkey skin can produce one pound of glue. It has the functions of nourishing blood and nourishing the skin, nourishing yin and moisturizing the lungs, and delaying aging. Men and women can eat it."
"If this well is occupied to produce donkey-hide gelatin, and then sold to women from wealthy families, it would be like sitting around collecting money."
Changsun Wugu's face became darker and darker, and finally he patted his head gently and said, "It's time to hit him. Why is his mouth full of copper stench, spreading it out and making people laugh?"
Chen Jingke scratched his head and said: "Well... what my aunt said is true, she is just too excited. The main reason is that the royal court's annual income is insufficient, and your majesty and aunt's life is not rich. I feel sad when I see it, so..."
Changsun Wuguo immediately turned his anger into joy and said: "Good boy, my aunt did not love you in vain... Write me the recipe for donkey-hide gelatin, and I will share the money with you later."
In fact, donkey-hide gelatin is an ancient prescription, which has been recorded in the "Shen Nong's Materia Medica" and has been recorded in many subsequent medical books.
It's just that at that time, everyone took it as medicine, and it was not easy to make, so it didn't become popular.
What Chen Jingke has to do now is to make it into a health product and sell it. The Queen will personally bring the product and it will become popular all over the country in seconds.
Moreover, donkey-hide gelatin does not necessarily have to use water from that ancient well, as long as it is local well water in Dong'e. But for the hype, it naturally adds a little magical color to make it more gimmick.
Changsun Wujia said not to be contaminated by the smell of copper, but in fact she was already moved.
The huge imperial court only had an annual income of more than 3 million guan of money and food. Just think about it and you will know how difficult it is to be in a financial situation. It is true that a financial deficit will occur if there is any disaster.
Some people may ask, why was the annual tax income in the early Tang Dynasty so low? It’s so sorry for his status as a unified dynasty.
The reason is actually very simple. There is no commercial tax, and salt and iron are not a state monopoly... Just look at the history to know how much money can be made from the salt and iron franchise.
In the more than two thousand years since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, it was only during the Sui Dynasty and the early Tang Dynasty that the state gave up this area of profits. The rest of the time it was a state exclusive business.
The other three major sources of annual income are local tax, household tax and commercial tax.
In other dynasties, in order to collect more household taxes, they would force people to divide their families. As long as you reach the age and get married, you must divide your family. As long as you divide your family, you will have to pay an extra tax.
On this point, Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty was the most overbearing, directly legislating to force people to separate their families, and all those who did not separate were treated as tax evaders.
In the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan and Li Shimin abolished this law in order to reduce the burden on the people. If the people wanted to divide their households, they would do so, and if they didn't want to, they would not.
Then a very strange thing happened. At the end of the Sui Dynasty, the population was 9 million households. By the time the country was basically unified in the 7th year of Wude, there were only more than 2 million households left, a total reduction of 7 million households.
Based on calculations of five or six people per household, some scholars speculate that there were 50 million people in the late Sui Dynasty, and only 15 million people remained in the seventh year of Wude.
In other words, the chaos in the late Sui Dynasty caused the population to decrease by 35 million, and then we came to the conclusion that the war was too cruel.
However, these scholars have overlooked one issue: the time difference between the two censuses was only fifteen years.
Thirty-five million people died in fifteen years. If the millions of new people born in these fifteen years are removed, more than 40 million people died.
Even if you think about it with your toes, you know it's impossible.
Later, everyone learned that it was not that people died, but that the Tang Dynasty did not force people to divide households. In order to pay less taxes, people joined households one after another. Dozens of people in a large family shared one household registration book.
This situation lasted until Li Longji came to the throne. In order to make money, he revived the old routine of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty and forced the people to divide their households.
Then a miracle happened. The number of households did not increase much in the 100 years since the establishment of the Tang Dynasty. By the time of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, the number of households increased by three or four times as fast as a rocket.
Then the prosperous Kaiyuan era is well deserved, haha.
Back to business.
After Li Shimin came to the throne, he even exempted poor states and counties from household taxes at every turn, and this area was completely eliminated.
In other words, during the Zhenguan period, the only thing the country could really collect as scheduled was local taxes. It would be damning if the finances could get richer.
That's why Changsun Wujia was so excited when she heard about the donkey-hide gelatin business. She was really poor and could see tens of millions of dollars in her eyes.