Dahan first prince

Chapter 24 The Son of Heaven Returns to Beijing
Jiayin (21), the eastern suburb of Chang'an, in the seventh month of the autumn of the tenth year of the Han Dynasty.

Just after dawn, the courtiers, officials, marquises and heroes all came to the eastern suburb of Chang'an, east of Changle Palace, as if they were waiting for something.

——No. 11 days after the death of the Supreme Emperor, Liu Bang, the emperor who was stranded in Xinfeng, decided to return to Chang'an!
Regarding this sudden change, everyone felt a little confused.

Although at this time, there is no rigid rule for later generations that "parents mourn, sons keep filial piety for three years", but there are similar funeral etiquette standards.

For example, the mourning clothes in "Rituals" stipulate that: when parents die, they need to wear hemp for three years; brothers and sisters die for two years, and elder relatives in three clothes for one year after death.

But this time, the situation was so special that even the sages who wrote the code of etiquette hadn't expected it.

——The Supreme Emperor passed away, and the Son of Heaven, as a son, what should he do in order to conform to the law and the way of filial piety?

I am afraid that even today's expert on etiquette and law of the Han Dynasty: Feng Changqing Shusun Tong, can't give a clear answer to this question.

But no matter what, after all, his biological father died. Even if Liu Banggui is the emperor, he should observe filial piety for half a month, and wear filial piety for half a year, so that he can barely justify it.

But now, No. 11 days after the death of the Supreme Emperor, Liu Bang's imperial chariot embarked on the road to return to Chang'an.

For this somewhat unexpected change, the courtiers and officials are undoubtedly worried.

Among them, Shaofu Qing Yang Chengyan was the most terrified...

"Xiao Xiang."

Taking advantage of the fact that all the officials and marquises folded their arms around their abdomens and closed their eyes to rest their minds, Yang Chengyan quietly walked up to Prime Minister Xiao He and cupped his hands slightly.

"The day before yesterday, could Your Majesty send someone to deliver a letter, saying that he wants to stay in Liyang Palace until after the autumn harvest?"

"Now there are still ten days in autumn and July, and there are still nearly ten months before the autumn harvest..."

"Your Majesty, this is...?"

Hearing that Yang Chengyan asked this question with hesitation, Xiao He leisurely opened his eyes, turned his body slightly, but did not look directly at Xiang Yang Chengyan.

"Master, don't worry too much."

"Your Majesty's return to Chang'an this time is definitely not because of raising food and grass."

Xiao He could see it clearly: Yang Chengyan mistakenly believed that Liu Bang's sudden return to Chang'an was due to his dissatisfaction with the progress of the Shaofu and the state treasury in raising food and salaries.

Perhaps in the eyes of outsiders, although this possibility is not high, it cannot be said that it is completely impossible.

But Xiao He understands: Liu Bang's stubbornness will never be used to force officials to speed up the process of solving problems subjectively when such objective conditions do not allow it.

Let's just say that now, with the imminent war and the lack of food and military pay, Liu Bang may be dissatisfied and will send someone to urge him, but he will never strictly set a deadline.

As long as the news of Chen Xi's rebellion spread to Chang'an and the food and grass were raised to a close, Liu Bang would not ask any more questions.

In the past ten years, every time the Kwantung War broke out, Xiao He, who was in charge of the army's logistics, food and supplies, also came here...

As for raising food and grass, it is even more impossible to go back to Chang'an early on the suspicion of incomplete mourning.

Seeing that Xiao He didn't show any signs of worry, Yang Chengyan also calmed down in half-belief.

It is said that the prime minister and the Shaofu will handle the raising of food, grass and military salaries together, but the current Shaofu is far from developing into a huge monster that can affect the national policy of the Han Dynasty later.

Since the establishment of the Han Dynasty until now, Yangchengyan, the young minister, has only a few tasks in the Manchurian Communist Party.

——In the name of Xiao He, the Shaofu is the main building, and the two palaces of Changle and Weiyang are built;
—— Come up with the specific construction plan of Chang'an City, as well as the budget for manpower, money and food, and then patiently wait for the allocation of funds;

——Calculate the oral tax paid into Shaofu's internal funds every year, and melt the half of the internal funds into three baht coins in sequence.

These three tasks are the entire work content of Yang Chengyan in the past few years.

Among them, the task of building the two palaces of Changle and Weiyang was finally completed in the fifth year of the Han Dynasty with the support of the state treasury.

Although it is still going on to melt half of the money in the Shaofu into three baht coins, it is undoubtedly making the effective property of the Shaofu steadily shrink.

In the past two years, most of the mouth money sent to Chang'an from all over the world has been occupied by the three baht of lead money that the Shaofu personally cast and flowed into the market. Today, the internal funds of the Shaofu have practically lost all their economic capacity.

——With the mountain of bad money that is steadily increasing, it is not an exaggeration to say that the Shaofu is poor and empty!

As for the construction of Chang'an City, let alone.

It has been five years since the construction plan was presented in the fifth year of the Han Yuan Dynasty, and the treasury has still not been able to allocate even a single copper coin for the construction!

The national treasury does not allocate funds, and the Shaofu's own money is used to melt and mint bad coins, so the construction of Chang'an City is naturally in the foreseeable future.

The plan to build Chang'an City was shelved because of the emptiness of Shaofu and the national treasury; the casting of three baht coins was reducing Shaofu's small coin savings.

In this way, today's Shaofu is actually a ruthless three-baht money-making machine.

Under such circumstances, it is undoubtedly difficult for the poor and poor, who have not yet made any income, to contribute to the matter of 'raising food, grass and supplies for the army'.

Going up to the sky, Yang Chengyan can only allocate a part of the manpower responsible for melting and casting coins to expeditiously forge a batch of weapons and ordnance, coupled with the inventory of the arsenal, barely complete the ordnance needed by the army.

As for food and salaries, they can only be settled by the treasury under the control of Prime Minister Xiao He.

Now that the ordnance he is responsible for has been prepared, Xiao He, who is in charge of food and pay, is not in a hurry, and Yangcheng Yanzi is also happy to relax.

But different from Yang Chengyan's attitude of concentrating on his own work, Xiao He's heart at this time is already full of severity.

"Your Majesty suddenly turned back to Chang'an, it should be because of changes in the Kanto..."

With a whisper in his heart, Xiao He slightly raised his head, looking at the horizon, the imperial chariot that appeared with the sun.

"Chen Xi..."

"Probably not."

"The autumn harvest is just around the corner. If Chen Xi wants to rebel, he should wait until after the autumn harvest to collect Dai and Zhao's harvested grain before he can do it."

"Thus……"

Thinking of this, Xiao He turned his head with apprehension, and carefully looked not far away, at the queen's phoenix chariot temporarily staying at the edge of the jungle.

"King Chu and King Jing are going to the funeral, they must have passed through Hangu..."

"Could it be that the queen has already made a move..."

Whispering softly, Xiao He quietly lowered his head, and couldn't help but secretly sighed a little.

"Dragon and phoenix fight, I am afraid that one will die and the other will be injured..."

"However, the court is a fish in the pond, so how can the world be innocent?"

Just as Xiao He lowered his head and lamented, worried about the future situation of the court, he saw a horse coming from afar, and reined in a few tens of steps away from the officials.

"Your Majesty's decree: All the officials will come to Changle to prepare for the court ceremony!"

After saying that, the knight ignored everyone's dumbfounded faces, and drove straight to the distance along the way he came.

Hearing the knight's words, Xiao He could only temporarily put aside the worries in his heart, and took the lead in walking towards the Changle Palace behind him.

"I'm afraid it's King Chu and King Jing, what news did they bring back from the Guandong..."

(End of this chapter)