Dahan first prince

Chapter 152
When Zhang Bing came to the south of Chang'an full of doubts and bought corn at the price of [-] yuan per stone in the new market known as the "grain market", Liu Ying also waited for Yang in the Weiyang Palace. Cheng Yan's visit.

"After the winter solstice, in the blink of an eye, we are alone with the Shaofu, and we have not seen each other for more than two months?"

Sitting up with the careful support of the eunuch, Liu Ying only subconsciously protected her side with her left hand, and did not forget to smile kindly at Yang Chengyan.

Seeing that Liu Ying could sit up, most of the worried look on Yang Chengyan's face dissipated, and he knelt down on the banquet beside him with a chuckle, and bowed to Liu Ying.

"Thanks to my family's support and His Majesty's protection, I ran along the Zhengguo Canal for more than two months, and everything went smoothly."

"Only a while ago, I heard that my family was assassinated in Changling, and I was very worried about the safety of my family; and my family sent an order to the Shaofu to set up a grain market in the south of Chang'an."

"Just as the construction of the canal is nearing completion, I took a short break and returned to Chang'an. Apart from watching the grain market in person, I also wanted to meet with my family."

Speaking of this, Yang Chengyan did not forget to put on an expression of peace of mind, and let out a slightly exaggerated breath.

"Seeing that there is no serious problem at home, my minister, it can be said that I am relieved..."

Seeing Yang Chengyan's attitude, Liu Ying couldn't help but shook her head and smiled, and gave Yang Chengyan a hand.

"It's just a flesh and blood injury, but the young man's family still keeps it in his heart, and he almost missed the repair of the canal. This is the crime of being alone..."

After a little politeness, Liu Ying didn't go around much, and just smiled ashamedly.

"It's already the beginning of spring and February, and Guben wants to go to Sanyuan in person to see how the canal can be built."

"However, what happened in the past..."

As she spoke, Liu Ying couldn't help laughing at herself, and lowered her head to caress her side ribs.

"The momentary carelessness of the solitary made the queen mother furious, and the solitary was injured, so it was inconvenient to travel far."

"I am afraid that the construction of the canal will all depend on the strategy agreed by the Shaofu according to the winter solstice at the beginning of the new year..."

Hearing Liu Ying's slightly embarrassing words, Yang Chengyan turned his face slightly, and bowed heavily to Liu Ying.

"There's nothing to worry about at home."

"Although the matter of building the canal has not been completed, the family has already informed the ministers of the strategy that should be implemented."

"Before winter, the excavation and widening are all completed; even the scorpion used to fix the soil in the upper reaches of the canal has also prepared enough willow mats and gravel."

"Wait for the minister to go to Sanyuan, and act according to the order of the family. In less than a month, the work of repairing the canal will be finished!"

Seeing Yang Chengyan's solemn promise, Liu Ying also nodded with respect, and looked at Yang Chengyan with a little seriousness.

"In that case, the matter of building the canal will be entrusted to the Shaofu."

"The Shaofu should know that Gu's main task of repairing the canal this time is that when the father and emperor were leaving, he was imposed on Gu by the prince of the supervisory country."

"Now that the construction of the canal is nearing completion, the Wanwang Shaofu has been working hard every step of the way. It must not fail!"

Saying that, Liu Ying did not forget to look down at her side ribs again, and there was a little self-compassion on her face.

"But don't be like a lonely person, who will be negligent when he is proud for a while, and cause trouble again..."

Hearing that Liu Ying uttered this cryptic awakening as if joking, Yang Chengyan bowed his hands with a serious expression.

Seeing Liu Ying laughing again with a self-deprecating look on her face, she turned the conversation away from Zheng Guoqu.

As Liu Ying said: The renovation of the Zhengguo Canal has been basically completed.

What was Zheng Guoqu's previous problem?
——The channel was in disrepair for a long time, and the channel was blocked by the accumulation of silt; and because the width of the channel was widened by local officials and people who did bad things with good intentions, the water flow was slower and the rate of silt settlement and accumulation was faster.

In this case, if the court does not have any political purpose and is only repaired from a practical point of view, then there are two points: cleaning and excavating the downstream silt, and restoring the widened channel to its original appearance.

As long as these two points are completed, the Zhengguo Canal's ability to irrigate the farmland on both sides of the strait will be visibly improved.

And these two points were basically completed before the winter solstice by Liu Ying personally staring at the lotus spoon.

The remaining item of "fixing the upper reaches of the soil" is because Liu Ying, as the prince of the supervisory country, added it privately with the political purpose of "people's support" and "political hope".

That's not to say, it's all image engineering.

——If the water and soil in the upper reaches are not stabilized with dong and stone bricks, then Liu Ying's renovation of the Zhengguo Canal will be just the beginning!
Every few years in the future, the Zhengguo Canal will still be blocked due to the accumulation of silt, and the court will also need to spend money and effort repeatedly to carry out the maintenance of the Zhengguo Canal.

For the Han Dynasty, which cannot even be built in Chang'an, the capital, such a huge maintenance cost is obviously unacceptable.

If not, in the past ten years, Prime Minister Xiao He would not have sat by and watched the Zhengguo Canal be blocked, and even directly caused the farmland along the coast to reduce production due to insufficient irrigation.

The completion of the matter of "solidifying the upper reaches of the soil" does not mean that the court will be completely settled once and for all, and there will be no need to maintain the Zhengguo Canal from now on, but at least it will greatly slow down the speed at which the Zhengguo Canal is blocked due to silt deposition.

If we say that in the past, the Zhengguoqu Canal had to be repaired and dredged every three years, but now, after the upper reaches of the Zhengguoqu Canal are paved with bricks and stone bricks, it is likely that it will only need to be overhauled once every ten or even 15 years. .

If the Kanto area is pacified as soon as possible, and the world is stabilized as soon as possible, the lower reaches of the Zhengguo Canal can be cleaned up a little bit of silt every year, and perhaps in the future, the court will no longer have to worry about the renovation of the Zhengguo Canal.

To put it simply: excavating silt and widening channels are all considered from the moment, and the results can be seen immediately, but they will need to be repeated soon.

As for "solidifying the upper reaches of the soil", Liu Ying made the decision from a long-term perspective and from the perspective of sustainable development.

As long as this matter is completed, it will naturally benefit the country and the people from a large perspective, and it will be conducive to the healthy operation of the country's finances.

From a small point of view, it is enough for Liu Ying to get an impression of "profound thinking" in the hearts of courtiers and officials, and to reap the support of the people in Guanzhong by the way.

And this matter, in fact, has almost been done.

——In mid-November, when the work on the lower reaches of the Zhengguo Canal ended, Liu Ying had already obtained tens of thousands of people in Guanzhong with grain and rice as compensation. Promise of.

In addition, the [-] official slaves dispatched by the Shaofu have also prepared gravel for making gongs.

After a few days, Yangchengyan went to Sanyuan, summoned the officials and slaves of the Shaofu, and the people of Guanzhong, rolled up the woven willow mats and the prepared gravel, and spread them under the Zhengguo Canal, and the work was done.

In this case, even if Liu Ying hadn't been assassinated in Changling before, whether she went to Sanyuan or not would have little impact.

"Whoo~"

"Father's big test finally gave a good answer..."

She sighed a little in her heart, but Liu Ying didn't feel that the burden on her shoulders was lightened a bit.

After thinking for a while, Liu Ying looked at Yang Chengyan again.

"Earlier, Gu ordered the delivery of [-] shi of rice to Sanyuan, and the Shaofu could use it for himself as food for officials and slaves."

"For the rest, the Shaofu can pretend to be an orphan and say 'the prince ordered it', thinking that the people in Guanzhong are strong enough to build canals."

"In the spring and March, when the construction of the canal is about to be completed, I will go to Sanyuan alone to thank Guan Zhongmin Zhuang face to face."

Hearing Liu Ying's serious words, Yang Chengyan also nodded slightly.

After seeing the vague kindness in Liu Ying's eyes, Yang Chengyan smiled shyly.

——Guan Zhongmin Zhuang and Liu Ying have to thank each other personally, then...

There are some things that need not be said too clearly...

While Yang Chengyan was thinking about it, Liu Ying asked again, "What happened to the grain market?"

Hearing Liu Ying's question, Yang Chengyan couldn't help pulling back his thoughts, and after pondering for a while, a little worry appeared on his face.

"My family went to the grain market and sold rice in the Shaofu. So far, it has been nearly ten days."

"In the past ten days, the Shaofu has sold more than [-] shi of grain and rice, and received [-] million yuan; the remaining grain of the Shaofu is less than [-] shi."

"I believe that the remaining 30 shi of food in the Shaofu, at most only half a month, will be sold out..."

Hearing this remark, Liu Ying couldn't help but sighed a little, although she was mentally prepared for it.

Speaking of which, although Liu Ying's "assassination" this time was somewhat painful and a bit embarrassing, correspondingly, he also gained a lot.

In addition to slaughtering the entire Tian family in Changling as a matter of course, and conveniently detaining his younger brother Liu Ruyi for the crime of "attempted brother murder", Liu Ying also obtained sixteen granaries of various sizes from the Tian family for nothing. , and more than 70 stone grain rice.

Among them, what Liu Ying paid the most attention to was the 70 shi of grain.

After all, no matter what, the Changlingtian family is just a merchant. Even if there is no such thing, Liu Ying would only spend more effort if he wanted to rectify it.

As for the younger brother Zhao Wang Liu Ruyi, it seems to be the source of threat to Liu Ying's reserve position, but in fact, Liu Ying never thinks that Liu Ruyi can pose any threat to herself.

Even if you don't talk about the present, Liu Ying, who has the merit of "building canals and raising agriculture", will have to calm down the grain market in the next step. How firm the position of the prince is under his buttocks. It is also enough to make Liu Ying completely ignore her younger brother Liu Ruyi.

And the 70 shi of grain, whether it was for Liu Ying at this time or for the court of the Han Dynasty, it can be said that the long drought meets the rain...

——Liu Ying repaired the canal, and had to give food to the people who came to help build the canal spontaneously;
——The Shaofu sent officials and slaves to repair the canal, and half of its rations also required Liu Ying to find a way;
——Emperor Liu Bang's army is out, and the monthly military ration consumption is at the level of "million stones";
What's more, even now, the signs of "the monopoly of the grain market" gradually appearing in Guanzhong also require Liu Ying, the prince of the supervisor, to put a sufficient amount of affordable grain into the market to regulate the price of grain.

Calculated in this way, 70 shi of grain is not too much at all.

First of all, Yang Chengyan, who had greeted Liu Ying long ago, took away [-] shi of grain, as a slave of the Shaofu officials, and the rations used by the people of Guanzhong to build the canal in the next two months.

After that, Liu Ying gave Xiao He another 40 shi of grain to ease the pressure on the treasury to supply Liu Bang's army with grain and supplies.

The remaining 20 shi was used by Liu Ying as a regulation grain to stabilize grain prices.

But now, less than half a month after the regulation started, half of the 20 shi of grain has been sold...

"Um······"

"This matter, Gutong Xiaoxiang has already made a plan."

"Let's wait a few days."

"After five days, if there is still no rice from Guanzhong grain merchants in the grain market, Prime Minister Xiao will take action."

As she spoke, Liu Ying's heart was filled with chills.

"Hey······"

"I'm afraid there are not enough people who died from Mrs. Tian..."

With a sad smile, Liu Ying couldn't help lowering her head again, looking at the side ribs that still had some dull pain.

"Let's see."

"Look at you, are you like Xiao He said to 'get back when you get lost', or like my old lady guessed, don't look back when you don't see the guillotine..."

Seeing Liu Ying sinking into thought with a cold face, the worry on Yang Chengyan's face finally eased a little.

But Yang Chengyan's next words made Liu Ying fall into extreme helplessness for a while.

"At home."

"In addition to this, there are two other things that may hinder the grain market."

When Liu Ying recovered from her thoughts, Yang Chengyan cupped her hands worriedly.

"In the next ten days, the Shaofu will sell [-] shi of rice in the grain market, and get [-] million yuan."

"This money is [-] million, all of which are from Qin Banliang."

"However, in the past few days, the grain market official Zuo Duo said to the officials: some people came with three baht money, but they couldn't buy rice. Instead, they asked the officials of the Shaofu with the edict issued by His Majesty the year before..."

Almost at the moment when she heard the words 'You people buy rice with three baht', Liu Ying's expression, which was not pleasant at all, sank immediately.

"Ugh······"

"Backlash..."

Liu Ying could understand Yang Chengyan's words.

——The Shaofu sells grain in the newly established grain market, and the people want to buy it with three baht money, but most of the three baht money is not enough, and there is also a lot of lead money and pod money, so the Shaofu will naturally not accept it.

Then, the soul question that even Liu Ying didn't know how to answer appeared.

——Didn't Your Majesty say that three baht money is also money, and it's the same as half tael?

——Why now, your Shaofu sells grain and still doesn't charge three baht?

—Your Young Master, is this clearly against His Majesty's will?

Counting past and present lives, this question has been in Liu Ying's mind for ten years.

But until now, Liu Ying didn't know what to answer, which was the correct answer.

Say three baht money is not 'money'?
It doesn't matter what violates the edict of the emperor or disobeys the law, Liu Ying can't get around it just by being a "filial piety"!
But if it is admitted that the three baht coins have purchasing power and circulation power, then the situation will probably be even worse...
The reason is very simple: as long as three baht coins can be exchanged for anything valuable from Shaofu, then anyone with a brain will spare no effort to mint three baht coins!

And this kind of business, which is basically equivalent to Bai Na, is an indelible blow to both the finances of the Han Dynasty and the currency market...

"Ah."

"It's about time..."

Secretly letting out a long sigh leisurely, Liu Ying raised her head with a gloomy face, and nodded slightly to Yang Chengyan.

"Shaofu's goods and grain are in the market, so it is not allowed to expressly say 'no three baht'!"

"It is only necessary to prevaricate and decline by saying that it is defective, insufficient in color, insufficient in weight, etc."

As she spoke, Liu Ying finally stood up with the support of the eunuch beside her.

"Tomorrow, I will go to Xiangfu alone."

"Young Mansion and Gu go together!"

(End of this chapter)