Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 388 Trading
After the face-to-face meeting, Shao Shude wanted to leave, but when he saw the historian packing up his things, he suddenly became interested, and asked, "Can I have a look at what the historian recorded?"

Cui Zhaowei glanced at it in surprise, this martial artist actually wants to read the records?
"No." The historian said bluntly.

Shao Shude didn't think it was disobedient, and said again: "What is that recorded?"

"The vassal Shao Shude insulted Shi Zai, and despised the emperor like a puppet." The historian replied.

The words made the three people in the room a little unnatural.

But the historian has this power.Changing to Emperor Taizong's prestige might allow the historian to beautify it a bit, but the nature of the whole matter cannot be changed, and it still has to be recorded.

Of course, historians don't record everything, and usually only write about major events.When vassals enter the palace, they will usually record it, especially in the current situation.There is still a great possibility that the history of the later dynasty will be included in the "Book of Tang".

"Forget it, asking about this is asking for trouble." Shao Shude laughed.

Even if he establishes a new dynasty in the future, he doesn't bother to beautify it.Just be what you want, no pretense required.

He didn't want to be a saint, nor did he want to be described as a perfect person in the history books.People must have shortcomings. The advantages are me, and the shortcomings are also me, and I have to accept them.

After leaving Zhaoyang Hall, the soldiers withdrew one by one.

Cui Zhaowei was thoughtful, and the saint had complicated emotions.

No matter what the historian wrote, he couldn't interfere, but Shao Shude really didn't do anything to him.It could be seen that he didn't want to act recklessly, at least not for the time being.

Cui Zhaowei looked around and said in a low voice: "Don't worry, saint. I got a man in yesterday. He is the fake son of the Ximen family. His name is Ximen Zhao. He was born as a thief and lived in the Guanzhong. .In the future, there may not be no chance to punish middle officials."

The saint nodded imperceptibly.

The risk of this matter is not small, but there is no way now, is there?

Shao Shude went directly to a large mansion in Xingdaofang, which was his temporary residence in Chang'an - it was recommended by the Zhongguan, and the quality must be excellent.

In Chang'an City, the Xingdao, Kaihua, Wuben, and Chongyi four squares can be described as high-quality prime locations, roughly located on both sides of the Anshangmenwai Street in the imperial city.Sifang is adjacent to the Imperial City in the north, Zhuquemen Street in the west, Qixiamen Street in the east, and Anrenfang and Changshengfang in the south.

In these four workshops, the residents are basically officials.Many houses are owned by the imperial court, and are rewarded to important ministers from time to time, or allocated to the prime minister to live in (recovered after the prime minister is dismissed).

Of course, there are also private purchases, usually from ancestors who have served as important ministers and generals.But if the descendants decline, generally speaking, they can't keep it. After the upstarts fancy it, they will ask to buy it, and it is difficult for you to refuse.

Xingdaofang is about 500 meters long from north to south, and slightly wider from east to west, about 600 meters long.

What Shao Shude lived in was a mansion compound that occupied almost half the area of ​​Xingdaofang.

In this dynasty, the first owner of this house was Xiao Shi, Empress Xiao, Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty, who granted the house in the fourth year of Zhenguan.

After the death of Empress Xiao, the house was vacant for a period of time, and was later given to Princess Taiping.In the first year of Kaiyuan, Princess Taiping was gifted to death, and this house was given to Song Guogong Li Lingwen.After Li Lingwen was demoted, the house was taken back. Sometimes it was vacant, and sometimes it was temporarily assigned to a certain prime minister to live in. It happened to be vacant at this time.

Shao Shude moved into the house surrounded by a large group of soldiers, and there was already a guest waiting for him.

It's not Mrs. Pei of Hedong County.Lu Ming personally placed him in a certain village in Bashang, Shao Shude didn't know where it was, so he didn't bother to ask, there are more important things now.

"Master is finally here." Shao Shude bowed and smiled.

Theoretically speaking, Marshal Shao is also the prime minister, but after all, he is only in name, and Du Rangneng is the truth, and the courtesy he should have is indispensable.

"The king of Lingwu County has a large army in his hand, so he is polite if he didn't send a soldier to invite him. If the old man doesn't come, wouldn't he be ignorant?" Du Rangneng said calmly.

Shao Shude laughed, sat down, and said: "I don't play riddles. Dare I ask Du Xiang, if Zhu Quanzhong wants to seize the benefits of salt and iron, is the third division not in a hurry?"

The country implements the system of group ministers, and generally there are 2-4 prime ministers at the same time.Previously, Zhang, Kong, and Du were in office at the same time. Zhang Jun was demoted first to Lianzhou Governor, and then to Xiuzhou Recorder to join the army.

Now that Kong Wei has been demoted, Xu Yanruo is out of town in Guangzhou, and Cui Zhaowei is a new prime minister, and it is estimated that another one will be mentioned later.The three prime ministers, no one can get away, and all of them will be sentenced to the third division, making money!
The salt and iron envoy that Zhu Quanzhong wanted to serve concurrently was set up during the Anshi Rebellion. The first salt and iron envoy was Wuqi. The form is exported to Chang'an.To this end, thirteen patrol courtyards were set up along Huaibei and other transshipment routes.

During the Dali period, there were more than [-] million yuan in the salt and water profit alone, which was an important pillar of the central government's finances.

On this transshipment route, Yangzhou is the transshipment node, and the territories of Runzhou, Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Shengzhou are the sources of wealth.Yangzhou is now occupied by Sun Ru, and Jiangnan has also changed hands repeatedly between Sun Ru, Qian Liu, and Yang Xingmi. The transfer of money and food has been greatly affected, but it has not been cut off.

For Qian Liu and Yang Xingmi, Shao Shude said in front of the emperor that they were not loyal ministers, which is true, but they are at least offering confessions, and they seem to be somewhat loyal, or temporarily loyal, but not necessarily in the future.

After Jiangnan's wealth diverted, it had to go through Shi Pu and Zhu Quanzhong's territory.

Zhu Quanzhong asked to be a salt and iron envoy, and the court was very vigilant. Although there was not much money left, it looked like hundreds of thousands a year, but it was still an important supplement to the court's finances. How could it be lightly handled?
Furthermore, Zhu Quanzhong asked the court to move Shi Pu to another place a while ago, but the prime ministers ignored it.

Now the imperial court is slowly becoming wary of Zhu Quanzhong.In addition to what Shao Shude said in front of the sage, it is estimated that Zhu Quanzhong's attack on Shi Pu and the whole paid Taoist would be more worried, fearing that he would cut off the way to make offerings in the south of the Yangtze River and cause the court to lose a large amount of income.

But they lack the means to restrain Zhu Quanzhong, which is a problem.

"The King of Lingwu's question touched a sore point." Du Rangneng let out a long sigh and said, "How can the imperial court control Quanzhong in this situation?"

"Quanzhong is a wolf with ambition, why doesn't the imperial court call all Taoist soldiers to discuss it?" Shao Shude knew that it was impossible for the imperial court to issue an edict to seek Quanzhong now. The court knew it could do it.

Du Rangneng smiled wryly when he heard the words, and said: "Bian's military number is 30. Although there are many false and exaggerated claims, there are still 15. They are all veterans of hundreds of battles. How can we ask for them?"

"If there is an edict from the imperial court, if someone is willing to send troops to challenge it, all the towns in Weibei, Huazhou, Shanguo and other towns need to borrow their way." Shao Shude said sincerely.

Du Rangneng looked calm, and said: "With the ability of the king of Lingwu County, it should be no problem for Weibei and Huazhou to borrow the way, but will the father and son of the Wang family in Hezhong and Shanguo be willing to borrow the way?"

If you refuse to use the excuse, will you send troops to conquer?Du Rangneng couldn't be more clear about the virtues of warriors.

Shao Shude smiled again and said no more, anyway, he was just getting a vaccination.

Zhu Quanzhong wished to fight every day, and raised so many soldiers, it must be difficult financially.Before attacking Shipu and wantonly plundering, this can only be a temporary solution, not a long-term solution.

Moreover, even if Wuning Town was captured by him, it would not be able to provide much goods in a short period of time. Because Zhu Quanzhong adopted a high-intensity and destructive attack method, the people in several states could not farm.In addition, Shi Pu's luck was also bad, floods occurred every year, and a large number of people starved to death and fled.It is estimated that it will take many years to clean up such a mess, although Zhu Quanzhong probably will not wait for his full recovery to conscript soldiers and taxes.

Financial constraints are a thorny problem faced by every vassal commander and even the imperial court in the world today.

Zhu Quanzhong's involvement in the court's money and food is inevitable, sooner or later.

If you want to pretend to be a loyal minister, if the real money and food problems cannot be solved, it will be difficult to pretend.

"The king of Lingwu County didn't come here to talk about this." The soldiers brought tea, and Du Rangneng reached out to take it. After sniffing a few times intoxicatedly, he sighed: "Mengding tea in the middle of Shu is more than a year old. Not seen."

"I'll send fifty catties to Du Xiang soon." Shao Shude ordered.

"As ordered."

"Du Xiang also knows that Shuofang and the land of the thirteen prefectures in Hexi are half Qianghu and need to be educated urgently. This person..."

"Hewei Xiao Gong, isn't he recruiting people for you?"

"It's not enough! Longyou Town is only a bit thick and thick, and it's not enough, let alone Hexi and Shuofang?"

"There are quite a few students in Jingzhong, why doesn't the King of Lingwu recruit him?"

"We have to take advantage of the prestige of Shi Zai. At the Ministry of Rites, Du Xiang is very familiar with him. How does a certain warrior know those noble courtiers?"

The Ministry of Rites presides over the scientific examination, and the appeal of its chief official is too great.Beijing middle school student, you can't use coercion to take someone away, right?Still have to be willing.

"On the other hand, there are many old officials who are familiar with financial planning in the Yamen of the Third Division, and I want to recruit them." Shao Shude said again.

Du Rang can remain calm, as if he is thinking.

To be honest, the two things Shao Shude asked for made him feel a little better.

Especially the first one, to educate the Tibetans, train them with Chinese style, and turn the barbarians into summer, really tickled the itch of a traditional scholar-bureaucrat like him.

When he went to Liquan to stop the rebellious army in Jingyuan, Du Rangneng said to Liu Chonglu, "The job of prime minister is to secure the people inside and comfort the barbarians outside."

Regardless of other dynasties, in the Tang Dynasty, the prime minister really needed to do this.According to the rules established by Emperor Taizong, the Tibetans are also the citizens of the Tang Dynasty, and the prime minister has the responsibility to educate them.

But to educate the Tibetans, it is necessary to open schools in prefectures and counties.He vaguely heard that the King of Lingwu County had invested a lot of money in Confucian classics in prefectures and counties. If this money was used to support the army, it would not be a problem to get thousands of elite soldiers.

For a martial artist, he would rather save three thousand soldiers and educate the world, this is really unusual.

It's not that the other feudal commanders didn't invest in education, but they often did so because of their excitement, and then they disappeared. This is not the same as the long-term investment in the Confucianism of the prefectures and counties in Shuofang Town.

In the troubled times, there is such a warrior!
The second thing, he was a little puzzled.

"Isn't the king of Lingwu County going to do business?" Du Rangneng said with a smile: "The old officials in the yamen are really good at settling accounts, but they can only settle accounts."

"Someone wants someone to settle the accounts!" Shao Shude said happily, "Nowadays, the Sansi yamen, how can they need so many people? How many grains of Kanto rice come from the Weiqiao warehouse and the Heyun courtyard every year? What do you do to support so many people?" !"

Du Rangneng couldn't hold back.Isn't this just saying that the court is too poor?
But he didn't intend to compete with the warrior with the handle of the knife in his hand.

"What does the king of Lingwu want so many people to do?" Du Rang asked curiously.

"Next year, XX will hold an expo in the four towns of Shuofang, Hexi, Weibei, and Binning. There will also be a yamen called 'Clearing House'. Forget it, it's useless to say these things, so XX just asks, can Du Xiang help me? "

Du Rangneng made quick calculations in his mind and asked, "What benefits does the court have?"

"What benefits does the court want?" Shao Shude asked back: "If you want to win Zhu Quanzhong, I am willing to send troops."

Du Rangneng was not led into the ditch by Shao Shude, but stared at him with scorching eyes, and said, "Actually, what is the king of Lingwu County doing for Beisi? All they can give you is these houses. How can it compare to the great achievements of Zhongxing Datang?"

"Officials of the Northern Division, what else can they do besides fighting for power and profit?" Du Rangneng managed to grasp Shao Shude's weakness, so he launched a fierce attack. Ya can give it. Why don't you help the saint, kill all the eunuchs, and sweep away the demon atmosphere?"

These people are so persistent!Shao Shude sighed in admiration, I am afraid that you court officials will not know what to do, and the court will be ruined, unless I do something reckless now.

"How? Whether it is successful or not, you can decide with one word." Du Rangneng continued to lobby.

(End of this chapter)