Recreating the prosperous Tang begins with summoning players

Chapter 155 Changing a Horse to a Sang
Fang Guan looked at this young man, Dou Shen, a native of Guanzhong, he was a descendant of the swordsman family, he was just over 20 years old, he had been wandering around for a while after the world was in turmoil, and he came to Fengxiang Mansion recently.

Dou Shen didn't have any honors in the imperial examinations, and he wasn't from that kind of aristocratic family, so he could only work as Fang Guan's staff first.

But I didn't expect that the prime minister was about to fall. If Fang Guan fell, then Dou Shen's efforts during this period would be in vain.

For his own hard work during this time and for his future future, Dou Shen thought for a long time, and finally came up with a plan.

Seeing the young man Dou Shen standing up, Fang Guan was a little disappointed at first. What constructive suggestions could this young man who has not formally entered the official career put forward?
But Fang Guan now has no useful staff in his staff, so he simply listens to what advice this young man has.

Dou Shen said: "Ping Zhang, do you know that the silk trade in Hexi is booming now?"

Although Fang Guan is a prime minister who has lost power, he is still a prime minister after all. He naturally knows that Hexi's business is booming now.

The imperial court has just ordered that the officials staying in Lingwu quickly send the silk in Lingwu's inventory to Hexi for sale as soon as possible.

Many silk merchants in Fengxiang Mansion are rushing to buy silk from the imperial court. As long as the silk is transported to Hexi, they can earn more than double the profit.

Silk, itself a kind of currency in this era, was officially called "light goods" in Datang.

But although light goods are a kind of currency, compared with precious metal currencies such as gold, silver and copper coins, the market price of light goods fluctuates greatly, and the quality is uneven. Therefore, in the mid-Tang Dynasty, the currency circulating in the market was still copper coins. Mainly, the currency attribute of silk has been greatly reduced.

Even the silk rewarded by the imperial court to ministers and soldiers will be replaced by precious metal coins that are easy to carry.

Dou Shen said: "The silk trade in Hexi is prosperous, and the demand for silk in the Western Regions is great. Why doesn't Pingzhang seek the position of Hexi Jiedushi, and raise military funds for His Majesty to go to Hexi?"

Fang Guan was stunned for a moment, the so-called "going out and entering the prime minister", the prime minister and Jiedu envoy of the Tang Dynasty are two interchangeable positions.

Before Li Linfu, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty would be selected from several great Jiedu envoys, and the outstanding Jiedu envoys would be transferred to the central government as prime ministers.

And being a long-term prime minister will also threaten the emperor's power, and he will be sent to the town as a military envoy.

This flow of personnel maintained the Tang Dynasty's control over the various feudal towns, and at the same time ensured that the prime minister of the empire must be someone who could lead troops to fight and was familiar with the situation of the feudal towns.

However, since the emperor successively appointed Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong as prime ministers for a long time, this system has been destroyed.

In order to control the position for a long time and suppress the Jiedushi of the Han people, Li Linfu promoted a group of Huren Jiedushi including An Lushan.

At the same time, Li Linfu issued an order that barbarians cannot be prime ministers, which ensured that he could become prime minister for a long time.

The Hexi Jiedu Envoy is one of the ten Jiedus in the world, and was even known as the number one Jiedu in the world during the Tianbao period.

Today's Hexi Jiedu, because the emperor mobilized the Longyou Dao army to enter the customs, the power has been greatly reduced, but the emaciated camel is bigger than the horse, and the Hexi Jiedu is still a coveted good position.

More importantly, the current Hexi Jiedu is Guo Ziyi.

After Guo Ziyi added the "Pingzhang Military and State Important Matters", he often feasted and defiled himself at home, but the emperor's fear of him did not decrease at all. The transfer of the main force to Xiangzhou also deepened the emperor's fear of Guo Ziyi.

Fang Guan naturally knew that Guo Ziyi, the deputy marshal of the world's soldiers and horses, was in Xiangzhou, but there was no commander-in-chief on the battlefield in Xiangzhou, but Yu Chaoen, an eunuch, was appointed as the military envoy of the tenth army to coordinate the battle of the army, because the emperor had already had feelings for Guo Ziyi. Be wary.

Now Guo Ziyi is Shuofang Jiedushi and Hexi Jiedushi, if he seeks the position of Hexi Jiedushi, the emperor might really agree.

Now Zi Fangguan regained his energy, anyway, he has been detested by the emperor, so he might as well go to Hexi to be a Jiedu envoy to the emperor, and go happily.

But is the emperor willing to give this fat job to himself?
I only heard Dou Shen say: "Pingzhang must have a legitimate reason if he wants to seek the Hexi Jiedushi."

Fang Guan stroked his sparse beard and nodded in agreement.

Dou Shen said: "So I have a plan, Pingzhang can play to His Majesty, and change the horse into a mulberry on the Hexi trip!"

"Change a horse to a mulberry?"

Dou Shen nodded and said: "The four counties in Hexi, including Jiuquan, Zhangye, and Wuwei, are all lands with abundant water and grass. There used to be a large number of horse farms, which were important places for horse administration in our Tang Dynasty."

"However, since the emperor failed to suppress the rebellion, many racecourses in Hexi have been abandoned."

"Now that the silk trade in Hexi is booming, why not just plant mulberry trees on the horse farms in Hexi, and raise silkworms and weave silk in Hexi?"

This, Fang Guan was stunned, is there another way?

He stroked his beard and asked, "How long will it take to change from a horse to a mulberry?"

Dou Shen said: "Hexi has a good reputation as the frontier of the south of the Yangtze River. It is natural to plant mulberry trees here to raise silkworms and spin silk. The mulberry trees transplanted now can be used to feed silkworms next year. Within a year, they will become no less than An important place of wealth in the south of the Yangtze River."

Seeing that Fang Guan had hesitated, Dou Shen said again: "Pingzhang, now we need money to quell the rebellion, and even more after we quell the rebellion. Pingzhang didn't see Fifth Qi being valued by His Majesty, isn't it because he can get it in Jianghuai?" money?"

"If Pingzhang can manage Hexi, then His Majesty must have taken a fancy to you, and the restoration of your position in the future is just around the corner."

After saying this, Fang Guan didn't hesitate anymore, but he still asked the last question.

"Now the chief executive of Longyou is Li Yan, the King of Jianning, and the Hexi Jiedu Mansion is in charge of Longyou. What should we do?"

Dou Shen smiled and said: "Speaking of which, let's talk about the beauty of Hexi."

"Why is this?"

"If King Jianning really takes over the entire Longyou, then His Majesty and the Crown Prince should be worried. Pingzhang is going to Hexi now, just to have a fight with King Jianning. In the future, when the Crown Prince becomes a great treasure, Pingzhang will also be There is a credit here.”

Fang Guan is also an old man in the officialdom, and he suddenly became enlightened after listening to Dou Shen's words.

King Jianning is the emperor's own son and the prince's younger brother. He also once served as the deputy marshal of the world's soldiers and horses, and is also one of the contenders for the throne.

Now that he is enfeoffed in Longyou, if he really sits in Longyou, the crown prince would probably be the most uneasy.

If I go to Hexi, I can restrain King Jianning, which is also a great contribution to the prince.

Now that His Majesty's dragon body is not in good condition, if he can get a favorable opinion from the prince, there is hope for the new prime minister.

Fang Guan immediately said: "If you can get the Hexi Jingjie, you must worship Shen as the judge!"

(End of this chapter)