Great Tang princess

On the sixth day of the first lunar month, Li Yuechen went to the palace to visit his mother.

Before entering the hall, I heard the sound of flutes coming from inside.

Come in and take a look, as expected.

The old mother in casual clothes was playing chess with Shangguan Wan'er. The disc on the phonograph kept turning, and the sound of the flute was coming from the horn.

Although the sound quality is not as good as the real flute sound, and there is a little bit of noise, but the effect is already quite good.

Zhang Chengxin, who is already getting old, is sitting next to him, and he will tighten it when he sees that the clockwork is loose, or restart the single cycle after the wind is finished.

Stand up from time to time to add some water to the two people who are playing chess.

"Aniang, are you satisfied with this phonograph?" Li Yuechen sat beside him and asked with a smile.

"Um……"

Wu Zetian agreed without raising her head, and said softly, "It sounds good, but it's a pity there's only this song..."

"It's okay, my boy has already asked Zhang Yizhi and other Taichang Voice artists to record new ones, and Aniang can change them at any time in the future." Li Yuechen replied while getting up to get the teapot.

"Your Highness, this old slave is here..."

Just as Zhang Chengxin wanted to stop him, he was stopped by Li Yuechen.

"Okay, you can sit down. You should rest more when you are older."

Wu Zetian on the side smiled: "I told him to rest and replace with a younger one, but he just didn't want to."

"Saint Mingjian, this old slave also wants to serve the saint more..."

To put it bluntly, he still couldn't let go of the power of the chief executive... Li Yuechen complained in his heart.

It's absolutely nonsense to say that you like to serve people. At such an age, who wouldn't want to enjoy more blessings?
Wu Zetian smiled slightly and said, "You old bastard, you will play careless with me..."

"Old slave dare not!"

"Okay, Chen'er is here, you go out and rest." Wu Zetian waved his hand, too lazy to listen to his explanation.

Zhang Chengxin also knew that they were going to talk about something, so he quickly agreed and went out.

Seeing his leaving back, Wu Zetian shook her head slightly: "It's a pity that the number of eunuchs in the palace is much smaller now, and some of them are out of touch."

"Aniang, the existence of this eunuch is actually not a good thing. It's better to let the maid in charge of the chief executive."

Li Yuechen poured himself a cup of tea, sat aside and said: "The female soldiers trained by my son have a good cultural foundation, and the chief executive may not be able to do it."

The so-called chief executive, to put it bluntly, is the emperor's work and life secretary, who mainly takes care of the emperor's daily life.

In Li Yuechen's view, this kind of work can also be done by court ladies.

Not to mention that during the time when the Queen was in power, it was not impossible for normal men to do it.

Wu Zetian looked at the chessboard in front of him and said, "It's not that I haven't thought about it, it's just that the number of eunuchs in the palace will become less and less?"

Originally, eunuchs shouldn't exist... Li Yuechen complained in his heart.

In the final analysis, eunuchs are proper feudal dross, and there is nothing wrong with completely canceling them.

"Aniang, with the gradual improvement of civilization in the future, eunuchs will become history sooner or later." Li Yuechen said while blowing the tea in his teacup.

Wu Zetian raised her head: "What does Wan'er think?"

"Your Majesty, Wan'er trusts Your Highness." Shangguan Wan'er replied with a smile.

"No matter what she says, do you believe it?" Wu Zetian asked with a smile.

Shangguan Wan'er nodded generously: "Since childhood, everything His Highness said has come true."

"Hmph..." Wu Zetian grinned, but didn't say anything further.

Of course, she would not be angry with Shangguan Wan'er's attitude, she was already used to it.

This was also what Li Yuechen told Shangguan Wan'er when she was working in the palace.

As my own mother, I know the human heart and human nature too well. It is a very stupid behavior to lie in front of her.

So I told Shangguan Wan'er at the beginning that getting along with the emperor is very simple, just say whatever you want, and don't hide anything.

After so many years, Wu Zetian is really satisfied with Shangguan Wan'er's attitude, and coupled with her relationship with Li Yuechen, she has long been regarded as a half-daughter.

So this seemingly innocuous attitude made her seem real.

Regarding her daughter's suggestion, Wu Zetian considered it.

There are generally two sources of eunuchs in the palace.

One is the family members of the criminals, who are married into the palace;

But now the crime has canceled even sitting, the economy is good, and there is no shortage of food in the whole country.

So much so that in the past few years, the eunuchs in the palace have shown an aging trend, and there are fewer and fewer young eunuchs.

What Li Yuechen wanted was to completely abolish the system of eunuchs within a few decades. Of course, this required efforts to make reforms in other areas as well.

The most fundamental thing is that there is no need for the emperor to have so many women.

It is meaningless to get all the Sannomiya and Sixth Courtyards down.

Since ancient times, many concubines have never seen the emperor in their entire lives.

That's why Li Yuechen instilled in Li Shouyi's generation of men the idea that a man can have at most four women in a lifetime, and it's enough to make up a table of mahjong.

Otherwise, there are too many women and it is easy to be short-lived!
What's more, there are fewer women, and the palace fights will not be so frequent.

After all, there are only four of us, and playing mahjong together when we have nothing to do is enough to resolve most of the conflicts.

The same is true for the queen who may appear in the future. One husband and three faces are enough, don't make so many, it will make the family restless.

Under the influence of such thinking, the younger generation in the royal family is not very keen on finding a partner. After all... my aunt said that the opposite sex has a short life.

After all, this is based on facts. In fact, as long as most eunuchs can live to old age, they will indeed live longer than normal people.

Not to mention the living example of Li Yuechen.

We all know that Li Yuechen doesn't have a man, and now that he is in his 30s, he still looks as fresh as a 20-year-old girl.

Even if she has a special constitution and cannot be used for reference, Xuancheng and Princess Yiyang also look eight or nine years younger than their actual age.

There is also Shangguan Wan'er, who is also in her 30s, but she doesn't even have a single gray hair.

These examples are enough to show that my aunt is right!

Therefore, the younger generation of the royal family is not in a hurry to find a partner.

……

I chatted with my mother for a day, and rested at home the next day. On the eighth day of the eighth day, Da Zhou Empire officially started to work.

The street has returned to its usual bustle, and besides, the New Year is not over at this time, and there is also the Lantern Festival.

After two years of fermentation, this year's foreign envoys are all waiting to see the fireworks on the Lantern Festival.

But compared to fireworks, there is another thing that is more important.

Nowadays, no matter whether it is a powerful dude or a foreign envoy, Lelou is the most favorite place in Dongdu.

It is not an ordinary brothel, but an entertainment club.

On the night of the eighth day of the lunar new year, Li Yuechen and Shangguan Wan'er also came here after dressing up in disguise.

Although Li Yuechen's image is well known in Dongdu, it is not so easy to be recognized as long as he wears women's clothing and changes his hairstyle.

Today's Li Yuechen is like this, wearing a pure white skirt, and the upper body is gorgeous and beautiful.

Comb a little hair, put a flower on the forehead, which is quite different from the usual image.

After arriving at Lelou, under Wu Luolan's guidance, he went to the booth on the second floor and ordered some drinks casually.

Looking at the lively hall below, Li Yuechen asked with a smile, "How is it? The sales of this drink are okay?"

"Return to Your Highness, it's selling very well." Wu Luolan replied, "Winter fruits are rare, and this juice, even though the price is expensive, many people are willing to buy it."

"Well, is that banknote used by anyone?"

"Quite a lot!"

Wu Luolan nodded: "Because it is easy to carry, there are still many people who are willing to exchange copper coins!"

"Can the turnover increase because of this?"

"The increase has more than doubled." Wu Luolan replied, "His Highness's move is truly miraculous..."

Li Yuechen nodded slightly: "From this point of view, one batch may not be enough, and we must hurry up and print the second batch."

"My subordinates also think so. I heard that there are still many foreign businessmen who are collecting." Urolan replied.

Not surprisingly, foreign merchants collect banknotes.

After all, for merchants, the form of currency has little to do with them, as long as it can be used for transactions.

Of course, portability is also an advantage that cannot be ignored.

If you can collect some banknotes and bring them back, you can buy Da Zhou's goods next time you come here and use this banknotes for settlement. It's not too convenient!

Of course, many of these should be instigated by those foreign businessmen.

After all, in their view, this is a brand new change.

The emergence of banknotes means that precious metals such as gold, silver and copper can be used for more important things. Hairstyles with banknotes can save a lot of trouble.

Of course, they could also see that this kind of paper and ink, as well as the lifelike portraits, were not something they could do, so they should take this thing back and report it to the emperor.

If the country can also make this kind of thing, it can be regarded as a great achievement.

Li Yuechen didn't care about this, as long as the banknotes were usable and accepted.

Now that the bank has just started to operate, apart from acceptance, the remaining thing to consider is the issue of counterfeit banknotes.

Although I think that no one outside can imitate it, I still have to try my best to let the bankers do some science education for people who use banknotes.

The emergence of banknotes was only used in Lelou at first.

However, in the following time, it is obvious that the market has begun to circulate.

The most intuitive one is the store under Li Yuechen's name. Many people buy things with banknotes.

Judging from their expressions, these people came here with the mentality of giving it a try.

However, when it was found that it could be used to buy things, it didn't take any considerations and started to purchase in large quantities.

Besides, on the imperial court's side, the New Year's bonuses are all issued in banknotes.

On the household department side, at the beginning, many veteran officials said they were being fooled.

The little official in charge of this time also quickly explained that if you don't like it, you can take the banknotes to the newly opened bank to exchange for copper coins.

The conversion ratio was also told to them.

These older officials immediately ran to the bank to exchange copper coins.

At the same time, I thought in my heart that if the court dared to fool me, I would go to Yushitai and let them argue with the princess.

Unexpectedly, the staff of the bank exchanged copper coins for them without any nonsense.

Seeing that they were so straightforward, these people who came to exchange were a little hesitant.

If this portable currency can really be used, it is indeed many times more convenient than copper coins.

So some people decided to wait for a while, and then take it to consume it and try it out.

After trying it, I found that it really worked, so I was relieved.

……

Currency began to circulate in the market. On the thirteenth day of the first lunar month, Li Yuechen listened to their report at the household department.

Generally speaking, the issuance of banknotes is very successful. The only problem is that many people don't spend them after taking them back, and put them at home for collection.

After all, all the portraits of the emperor are painted on the banknotes. It is understandable to have such thoughts.

But this time, there were not many banknotes issued, and what they did was equivalent to reducing the amount of money on the market in an instant.

But it's not against the law for people to collect banknotes, so Li Yuechen had no choice but to ask the Engineering Academy to join in the printing.

Banknotes are banknotes, and they are money.If it continues to develop like this, I am afraid that the banknote itself will become a wealth management product.

But at least it also proves the feasibility of paper money issuance from the side.

So the next day, a complete report on banknotes appeared on Wu Zetian's desk.

Li Yuechen also added his own opinion at the end, and now Dongdu has proved the feasibility of banknotes.

If the follow-up reports from Chang'an and Fan Yang come, and it is also feasible, the next step is to consider first-tier cities such as Jiangnan and Taiyuan Prefecture.

After Wu Zetian read it, she thought it was feasible, so she and Hubu could handle it by themselves.

……

While the imperial court was paying attention to the banknotes, the aristocratic families were not idle.

In fact, this is not a good thing for them.

Once the new currency system is formed, it means that it will be difficult to barter in the future.

Unless it is a hard currency such as gold, it is difficult for other items to continue to be used as money.

In order to prevent such a thing from happening, many people joined forces to consider whether to make counterfeit money to destroy the banknote plan.

It's a pity that their plan was put on the emperor's desk by Shangguan Wan'er at dusk the next day.

Then he asked with a smile, "Your Majesty, do you want them to drink tea?"

"That's not necessary. Chen'er said that no one can imitate this banknote. I also want to see if they can make it, just keep an eye on it." Wu Zetian had a smile on his lips.

Although she believed in her daughter, she still couldn't help but want to see if it was impossible for outsiders to imitate.

"Here!" Shangguan Wan'er agreed.

The emperor said no matter what, then she doesn't need to follow up, just keep an eye on them and report back at any time, without wasting too much energy.

……

In fact, the common people don't care much about the affairs of the imperial court. At this moment, most people are discussing what kind of fireworks will be on this year's Lantern Festival, and whether they will be more beautiful than last year.

It wasn't until the newspaper was released on the morning of the [-]th day of the first lunar month that many people knew that the imperial court had actually issued a paper currency, and it was already in trial operation, and the result was very successful.

And many people who have met in Lelou in advance are also proud: "Look, I told you a long time ago, I still don't believe it..."

At the same time, newspapers also announced the time and place to watch this year's fireworks, which is what many people are most concerned about.