The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 619
Xiangyang West Market sells daily necessities such as firewood, rice, oil and salt.On the streets of the city, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, and Cen Wenwen were wearing civilian clothes, followed by a few guards. They came to understand the people's livelihood in Xiangyang. When they entered the city that day, he asked Xiao Yu if he could go shopping by himself, just for today.

Although he is Yang Tong's vassal minister and minister of officials, he is very concerned about people's livelihood, and occasionally buys things by himself, and is very familiar with things like buying and selling.

After entering the market, the three of them frowned. Xiangyang West Market is very large, covering two squares, but most of the shops inside are closed, giving people a very bleak feeling. It can be seen from the closed shop on the door plate that this is an ownerless shop. It can be seen that this should be the busiest place in Xiangyang, and it is very deserted. "Business is not booming", lack of goods, and poverty among the people are the first impressions of the three.

"Old man, how do you sell your fish?" Suddenly seeing an old man squatting on a street corner selling fish, he walked over and asked.

"Forty cents a tail." The old man glanced at Fang Xuanling and held out three fingers.

"Old man, your price is so expensive!" Fang Xuanling was very surprised.

"It's not expensive at all." The old man shook his head and said, "In summer, it's thirty yuan a tail. It's really not easy to fish in this winter, and forty yuan is already very cheap. If it wasn't for the cold weather, the old man couldn't bear it. Forty dollars will definitely not be sold."

"Okay! Give me ten tails." Fang Xuanling took out four hanging Kaiyuan Tongbao, one hundred yuan, which happened to be the price of ten tails. After handing the money to the old man, he squatted down, ready to untie the money tied to the side of the bucket. straw rope.

But seeing the old man returned the money back, an old voice rang in his ears: "I only accept Yanhuang Tongbao, not Kaiyuan Tongbao, please give it to Yanhuang Tongbao."

The capital of the Tang Dynasty did not accept money from the Tang Dynasty?
Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui and Cen Wenwen were astonished, and the three of them looked at each other in blank dismay.

"Why don't you accept Kaiyuan Tongbao?" Fang Xuanling said deliberately dissatisfied: "Old man, Kaiyuan Tongbao contains so much copper. It can't even compare with the five baht coins in Emperor Wen's time. Why don't you accept it?"

After Yang Tong promoted Yanhuang Tongbao, he used the eliminated old money, bad money, and cloth money to buy bottoms from various princes. Through the hands of the world's aristocratic families, he bought livestock, tea, wood, cloth, silk, medicinal materials, and grain from all over the country. , oil, salt and other items were all bought empty, and the result was that the business of various princes suddenly prospered, a large number of coins circulated in the market, and prices rose day by day. The site lacks everything, but the old and bad money from the Yang Guang period is the only thing that is not lacking. The people are very rich, but they can’t buy things, and the prices of the princes from all walks of life have skyrocketed. What they sold to the Sui Dynasty was really cheap, but the Sui Dynasty never appeared again.

Only then did the Li and Tang courts realize that their wealth and materials had been plundered by Yang Tong, causing shortages of goods and skyrocketing prices in the counties close to the Sui Dynasty. At that time, Daxing City, which was the talent of Li Tang, even looted and smashed shops. The event was for a little living material. In desperation, the Li Tang court dumped the supplies from Bashu to the counties to stabilize the price and appease the people. Many five baht coins that were abolished in the Sui Dynasty impacted prices in the Tang Dynasty.

Later, Li Tang found copper mines in Bashu and got a lot of copper ingots, so he began to cast Kaiyuan Tongbao with extremely high copper content, and then learned from the Sui Dynasty, exchanging Sui five baht from the hands of the people, which saved their currency disadvantage. , although the Li and Tang courts suffered heavy losses during the exchange process, they managed to appease the rioting folk.

It's just that Fang Xuanling never expected that Kaiyuan Tongbao, which contained more copper than Yanhuang Tongbao, was not wanted in Li Tang's capital.

"I'm really sorry, this Kaiyuan Tongbao is really worthless now. If I charge you two pennies today, I'm afraid I can only buy goods worth 380 yuan tomorrow, or even less." The old man shook his head and continued Said: "I don't understand the difference between Kaiyuan Tongbao and Yanhuang Tongbao, but everyone else is like this, and we can't help it. Look, everyone around is using Kaiyuan Tongbao."

"I'll go and have a look!" Fang Xuanling walked to a grain store, and indeed he saw that Yanhuang Tongbao was used to trade in Xiangyang, and occasionally someone traded with Kaiyuan Tongbao, but it cost ten dollars more than Yanhuang, that is to say, Kaiyuan Tongbao only had Yanhuang Ninety percent of Tongbao's value is worth, and according to the words of the old fish seller, it may depreciate tomorrow.

Fang Xuanling thought for a while, and his bright eyes became even brighter. He hurried out of the grain store, took out two slings of Yanhuang Tongbao, bought ten fish from the old man, and then walked through more than a dozen shops, and found Kaiyuan Tongbao The value in some stores is less than [-]% of that of Yanhuang Tongbao.

After returning to the post house, Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui laughed at each other, and Cen Wenwen, who couldn't understand what he heard, had goose bumps all over his body. He couldn't help but crossed his hands and rubbed his shoulders desperately.

"Keming, what do you think?"

"There's a lot to do!" Du Ruhui replied.

"You two ministers, what charades are you playing?"

"hey-hey!"

"Ha ha!"

Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui looked at each other and smiled.

Cen Wenwen felt chills all over, and unconsciously took a few steps back, away from the two guys who looked rather abnormal.

Fang Xuanling laughed and said: "Before I left Luoyang, the information I got was that the coins of the two dynasties were equal, but now the coins of the Tang Dynasty are only worth [-]% or even less. This shows that the visit of the noble patriarch of Guanlong made the civil and military [-]. The common people completely lost confidence in Li Tang's court. The common people were worried that after Li Tang's failure, the Kaiyuan Tongbao in their hands would become worthless, so they did not accept Kaiyuan Tongbao, and the reason for the rapid decline was probably that some people were abandoning it in large numbers, causing The whole city is in panic, if our army puts pressure on the border, I am afraid Kaiyuan Tongbao will be like cloth money in the Daye period."

In order to plunder the people's power and materials, Yang Guang melted the Kaihuang five baht with extremely high copper content time and time again, making the copper content of copper coins lower and lower; The rush into the market caused all walks of life to collectively lose control and fall into chaos. Even if a large number of private money makers were killed, it would be useless, but it would promote the proliferation of private money.Later, money and cloth money cut into the shape of copper coins appeared on the market, causing prices to skyrocket. The economic system of the Sui Dynasty collapsed, followed by great turmoil in the social order. resemblance?
Cen Wenwen also finally understood why Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui laughed, and said with emotion: "I never thought that the collective visit of the noble Patriarch of Guanlong would have such a great impact, even the coins were swallowed up by my Tai Sui. If this continues, Li Tang Chaoye only knew to use Yanhuang Tongbao, and Kaiyuan Tongbao, which was no longer needed, was melted into copper in large quantities and lost to the Sui Dynasty in the form of copper ingots, and then I, Tai Sui, used Yanhuang Tongbao to harvest all the wealth and items of Li Tang."

Speaking of this, he looked at Fang Xuanling and said with a smile: "Back in the Sui Dynasty, the old money was used to attack the territories of various princes, causing prices to skyrocket, and there were turmoil in many places! Is this Fang Shangshu's handwriting?"

"It's not me!" Fang Xuanling shook his head and said with a smile, "It's the solution that His Majesty came up with."

"This method actually came from the hands of the Holy One?" Cen Wenwen was a little unbelievable.

Fang Xuanling nodded and said: "This is money war, economic war. It can turn a small country into a pauper overnight. It can be called a means of killing people without blood. It is more terrifying than conquering by force."

Cen Wenwen suddenly thought of the Silk Road Alliance, free trade, and gold and silver bills, and couldn't help laughing: "Hu merchants in the Western Regions frantically exchanged real gold, silver, and copper coins for paper-printed 'treasure notes' from banks. It is estimated that these people will become pauper!"

Fang Xuanling smiled: "If you see it, don't say it!"

"I understand!" Cen Wenwen smiled knowingly, cupped his hands and asked, "Fang Shangshu, it's not the humble official who poured cold water on you. Li Yuan has suffered a big loss. Will he allow the influx of Yanhuang Tongbao? Also, how about Yanhuang Tongbao?" It is easy to establish a good reputation and reputation. If a large number of coins are minted and invested in the people, I am afraid it will also be the result of hurting one thousand enemies and self-defeating eight hundred? The key is that the Great Sui is no longer the Great Sui with only one Jizhou. If new coins are introduced, Not only is the exchange troublesome and cumbersome, but if it is not done well, it will cause chaos. The surrounding countries are now in the stage of trying to use the treasure banknotes, and they do not have absolute trust. It’s so far away that once we break our trust with people, they won’t trust us in the future.”

"Jingren's worries are extremely true!" Fang Xuanling agreed with Cen Wenwen's statement very much, and explained: "I mean to do the opposite."

"Exchange the goods for Li Tang's gold, silver and copper coins?"

Fang Xuanling nodded and said: "Yanhuang Tongbao contains a lot of copper, which is basically the same as Kaihuang five baht, reaching [-]%. The other [-]% is for strengthening copper coins, not because we don't want [-]% red copper!"

"In order to save the disadvantage, Li Yuan cast Kaiyuan Tongbao with [-]% copper! You see..." Fang Xuanling took out a Kaiyuan Tongbao, and with a little force, it deformed. With all my strength, the shape remains the same.

After the test, Fang Xuanling said again: "The copper content of Kaiyuan Tongbao is [-]% higher than ours, and the value is [-]% lower. If it is melted into Yanhuang Tongbao, excluding manpower, a copper coin will be [-]% to [-]% profitable when it arrives in Xiangyang. Why is private money banned so often? The root cause is the wealth contained in coins, which is so high that people would not hesitate to gamble their lives."

"Fang Shangshu wants to exchange trade with the Tang Dynasty, let our dynasty's glass products, wine heroes and other luxury goods pour into Xiangyang, and earn Li Tang's gold, silver and copper coins?"

"exactly,"

"I'm afraid Li Yuan won't agree?"

Fang Xuanling said with a sneer: "Li Yuan's border ban is nothing more than a fake to the powerful families. If he does not agree, the powerful families will also continuously transport all kinds of luxury goods into Xiangyang, and the most demanding ones are the dignitaries headed by the royal family. One thing Li Yuan knows very well, as long as we give Li Yuan a little bit of benefits, he will definitely agree to do business with me, Da Sui, in an official way."

"benefit?"

"That's right." Fang Xuanling nodded, and continued: "What Li Yuan lacks most is food. We can use food as a stepping stone. Can he not agree?"

Cen Wenwen was taken aback, and said with a wry smile: "Fang Shangshu, how dare you say that selling grain to Li Yuan is not an enemy?"

"Not necessarily!" At this time, Du Ruhui, who had been silent all the time, said: "The reward and punishment system of the Tang army is unclear. The general is extremely arrogant, there are many people who pretend to be creditors, and they have no morale, how can this kind of army with arrogant generals and weak soldiers fight? How can it be the opponent of my Great Sui army?"

"The key is that the Li Tang court has been rotten to the bone, and the government and the public have no hope for it. Even if the Tang army eats and trains every day, it is not my opponent in the Great Sui. Although the military strength is important, the morale And the will to fight is more important, so what's the use of a big fat man with a pompous appearance?"

Cen Wenwen sighed in admiration, he always thought he was very smart, but compared with Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui, he seemed to be far behind. From just a few fish, he thought of a series of schemes, which is really beyond his comparability .

In fact, Cen Wenwen is a little underestimating himself. The reason why he didn’t think so much is because he didn’t know many policies of the Sui Dynasty shortly after he joined the Sui Dynasty, especially the concept of money war and economic war. Considering that gold and silver banknotes are Yang Tong's plunder of foreign wealth, this is quite remarkable.

Fang Xuanling said with a smile: "We have a lot of high-quality grain, the selling price is much higher than ordinary grain, the common people are not willing to buy it, and only high-ranking officials can afford it, but the output is so high that even the emperor almost paid for it. It was sold at a low price; in order to let the soldiers of the Tang army who are suffering haha ​​eat good food, we will sell these high-priced grains to Li Yuan, and I will see how much he can buy in his internal storage."

"..." Cen Wenwen was speechless.

In fact, Fang Xuanling’s intention to go to Xiangyang as an envoy is not complicated. First, he visited Xiangyang in the name of the Great Sui Dynasty, and overwhelmed the Li Tang Dynasty with momentum, so that Li Tang civil and military officials and the people of Xiangyang felt that the reunification of the Great Sui Dynasty was the trend of the times, and it was extremely prosperous. At that time, the Li and Tang Dynasties were already in decline, and they were not far from defeat.And the owners of the Guanlong nobles who formed the core force of the Li Tang Dynasty paid homage to Fang Xuanling one after another. It gave people the feeling that even the Guanlong nobles who supported Li Yuan’s anti-Sui had given up the Li Tang Dynasty. Some officials lost their fighting spirit and thought of resigning.

Secondly, let Li Yuan use the five counties in exchange for a temporary truce, and the hidden tactics of blackmailing Li Tang and further shaking Li Tang's morale have been seen through by Liu Wenjing. Instead of agreeing to the exchange, Li Yuan decided to expand the army and build a second line of defense. In order to ensure the smooth flow of the passage into Shu, from this perspective, Fang Xuanling did not succeed.However, Da Sui didn't have much hope at all. The first task has been completed now. Li Tang's monarchs and ministers believe that they have reached the point of endless death. As long as the two of them kill bloody rivers, what Da Sui will get is the entire Li Tang rule. It doesn't matter if the five counties in the district send Li Tang's hand temporarily.

The third task is to strengthen the trade relationship between the two sides. This is also the simplest and easiest consensus to reach. On behalf of the Li Tang Dynasty, Xiao Yu and Fang Xuanling quickly reached an agreement, agreeing to release the border county and allow businessmen from both sides to communicate freely. Both sides exempt merchants from tariffs to facilitate the development of commerce.In order not to stimulate Yang Yu too much, Li Yuan also allowed the merchant fleet of the Sui Dynasty to enter Bashu, but only on the condition that they were not allowed to carry armor or heavy weapons. A ship could only carry ten short weapons, ten bows, Thirty pots of arrows, Tang Jun is responsible for the safety issue, and both parties agree that even if a war breaks out between the two sides, it cannot harm the merchants conducting normal trade.

In return for Li Tang’s sincerity, in the Sui Dynasty, except for iron ingots and military equipment, other materials would enter Li Tang through caravans, including grain, oil and salt that were previously forbidden to enter Tang. However, the grain was heavy and the folks were scarce. If you want to buy it, you can go to Nanjun and the Tai Sui government to buy it yourself. It does not support bartering, only gold and silver and Kaiyuan Tongbao are accepted.This request hit Li Yuan's heart again. He was afraid that the aristocratic family would buy low and sell high to the court, but he didn't know that all the Sui Dynasty planned to sell was high-priced grain, and he didn't know the consequences of the loss of gold, silver and copper.

……

Just when Fang Xuanling and Xiao Yu reached an agreement, an assassination against Duguzheng was about to begin.

As a retreated Xiangguo, Duguzheng actually seldom goes out, and hides deep in Dugu Mansion, even when old friends visit, he is also turned away by him.But since the visit to Fang Xuanling, Duguzhen, who is at home with free gifts, has been very active. In the past two days, he has gone out to visit friends from time to time.

If you look closely, you will find that the trembling Dugu is only staggering, but he has a lot of silver hair, and his eyes are still as bright as before.

At this time, Dugu had just returned from Zhao's mansion, and he straightened his waist when he got into the carriage, his aging breath was swept away, only to make people downplay his own existence, so he would dress up when he went out or received visitors Weak and old, he looked like he was about to die.

Duguzhen didn't feel regretful or ashamed for his decision to betray Li Yuan, the reason is the same as betraying another nephew Yang Guang, because he felt that as the Patriarch/Old Patriarch of the Dugu Clan, he had to consider the future of the family.As for the family relationship, he had forgotten it as early as when he was selected as the heir of the patriarch, so when Yang Guang hurt the interests of the Dugu family, he betrayed Yang Guang without hesitation, and supported the Yuan family and Li Yuan to play games in the world.Today's Li Tang Dynasty is in danger. Once Li Yuan is defeated by Yang Tong, the Dugu clan who betrayed the Sui Dynasty will definitely not end well. In order to leave a glimmer of life for the family, what's the point of betraying the incompetent Li Yuan instead?

For Li Yuan's mess, he can be said to hate it to the bone, and at the same time he is very regretful. He actually got along with Yang Tong for a long time before. The intention of enthroning is to make Yang Tong, Li Yuan, and Yuan Min a stable triumvirate, so that the chaos can continue in balance, but he finally denied Yang Tong.The main reason is that Yang Yu is too cowardly and not a person who can achieve great things. In a peaceful and prosperous age, an introverted and cowardly emperor would undoubtedly be the most popular among his courtiers. To the world, so he gave up on Yang Tong without hesitation.If he could win over Yang Tong back then, the Dugu family would have had a completely different fate.

Thinking of this, Dugu couldn't help but sigh, now the Dugu family, it depends on whether his desperate act of mending the situation can impress Yang Tong.

At this moment, the carriage stopped suddenly, and Dugu, who was in deep thought, almost fell from his seat and yelled angrily, "Why did you suddenly stop?"

The guard outside the car replied: "Old Patriarch, there are two dead bodies on the side of the road, and their clothes seem to be people from our house."

Dugu looked out, and really saw two corpses on the side of the road. They were indeed dressed in the unique costumes of servants in Dugu Mansion. He said in a deep voice, "Look."

"Here!" The guards stepped forward to check.

"Buzz!"

At this moment, the bowstring sounded, and an arrow pierced through the air. The arrow glowed with a strange blue light. Before Duguzheng could react, the long arrow pierced through Duguzheng's chest. Amidst Duguzheng's screams, Two more arrows hit him.

Dugu turned over from the carriage and fell heavily on his back, his lips were already black and blue, obviously poisoned, and his eyes with a strong expression of unwillingness gradually became blurred.

This poisonous person who had calculated and betrayed two relatives and nephews throughout his life, finally died under the schemes of others. Three poisonous arrows ruined his life of sacrificing everything for his family.

A beautifully packed invitation card was scattered on the ground from the carriage, and the invitation card was flipped by the strong wind, and it was written: "The tenth day of the first month of the third year of Shengwu is my [-]th birthday... At noon, prepare thin wine in the humble house, and respectfully invite Fang Gong Come - Duguzheng sincerely invites you

----------------

The new week has already begun. If you guys have tickets, please give them a few. Monthly tickets and recommendations are all support!There is no need for a reward, but a full reservation is very grateful.

(End of this chapter)