A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1086: Competing with the People for Profit
The locust leaf cold pottery made by the eldest sister is Wu Huaiyu's favorite summer delicacy. It is cool and delicious and also reduces the heat.

Wu Huaiyu helped by mashing the washed locust leaves and squeezing out the green locust leaf juice with gauze. The elder sister added the filtered juice to the flour and kneaded the dough.
Knead repeatedly, then roll into dough, then cut into thin noodles.

Yingluo and other older girls in the house also followed them to learn how to knead the dough. However, the younger Wu Liuer and Princess Jinyang couldn't stop asking questions about why, and even regarded the dough as a toy. Picked up various rabbits and little rhinos.

Boil water in a pot, cook the noodles, scoop out the cold water, pour hot sesame oil over it, then put it in the ice cellar to refrigerate. When it's time to eat, take it out and mix with seasonings. It becomes a refreshing and delicious summer delicacy.

"It's really pleasing to watch my eldest sister making Sophora pottery." Huaiyu praised.

"Auntie Wang taught me this jade noodle. It was originally a palace food. It was eaten in the court hall in summer. Among the food provided by the royal chef to the court officials, this cold pottery was included." Wu Yu'e was quick with her hands and feet. She cooked a pot and scooped it up. When it cools down, put it into another pot immediately.

"Well, there is indeed locust leaf cold pottery in the dining hall after the summer court, but I don't think what the imperial chefs cook is as delicious as what you make, eldest sister."

The cold pottery made by the royal chefs is very exquisite. Even the Sophora pottery eaten by the prime ministers will be added with toppings made of seabass, shrimp, etc., and even ice bowls will be specially made to serve the cold pottery, which is fresh and cool.

But Wu Huaiyu always felt that the locust leaf cold pottery made by her eldest sister tasted better.

"Actually, in addition to locust leaf juice, the cold pottery I made also added something else, chamomile juice."

Qin Qiong came with his wife, the head of Xingtang County, and their children, and Cheng Yaojin also came with his second wife, Cui Shi of Qinghe, and their children.

My brother-in-law, Ma Zhou Sanya, also arrived on horseback.
The eldest sister Yu'e came here with the children a long time ago. It is the eldest sister who prepared these delicacies today.

Sister-in-law Cheng also came with her children, second sister and third sister also came with her husband and children, and fourth sister Wanniang also came with her children.

In addition, no other guests were invited.

at dusk,

Big mouth and chewy noodles,

The water basin mutton with lotus leaf cake is not only delicious but also can be eaten in various ways. For example, you can cut the lotus leaf cake and put the stewed mutton inside. This is Roujiamo.

Or break the lotus leaf cake into pieces and soak it in mutton soup to eat, which becomes mutton steamed buns.

A simple meal for the family,
Mainly just to get together and chat.

Today the Wu family held a banquet to welcome Qin Qiong and Cheng Yaojin.

Chamomile juice has a slightly bitter taste and a sweet aroma. Chamomile is also a medicinal herb that can moisten the lungs and reduce liver fire.

The nobles only ate mutton and regarded pork as cheap meat and refused to eat it.

"I see, I always feel the taste is a little different." Huaiyu laughed.

Wu Huaiyu also likes to eat this water basin mutton. The sheep he chose are the best fresh Yanzhoutan sheep. They are slaughtered and cooked on the spot. They are also stewed with more than ten kinds of spices, without any smell.

"Today, the sheep were selected before dawn. After being slaughtered, they were soaked in cold water for half a morning to soak out the blood and water. Then they were stewed in a pot all morning. More than ten kinds of spices were added. Finally, the bones were broken and the meat was divided. ·····”

There is no big fish or meat.
Very homely,
The staple food is steamed locust flower corn flour steamed buns, followed by locust leaf cold pottery cold noodles.
Then there is the soup, fresh meat and rotten mutton in a bowl as big as a basin, served with lotus leaf cake.

The soup is fresh and the meat is tender, everyone will like it.

These delicacies made by my eldest sister are loved by both young and old.
In this sultry summer, a bowl of ice-cold locust leaf cold pottery is so comforting, it is so refreshing.

People in the Tang Dynasty like to eat mutton, and people in Guanzhong prefer it.

The meat is tender, the soup is clear, and the bowl is as big as a basin.
Both Lao Cheng and Qin Qiong liked it very much. The soup was delicious and the meat was so delicious that they made them sweat and cheered.

Adding some chamomile juice to the locust leaf cold pottery can make the cold noodles richer in taste and better in color and aroma.

Drink the soup in big gulps,

Lao Cheng felt that the only shortcoming was that he was a guest today. If he were at home, he should carry this big bowl to the door.
Eat while squatting.

That's how fragrant it is, and that's how exciting it is.

"The mutton in your water basin is really fresh,"

Lao Cheng was full of praise,

After the meal, Lao Cheng rubbed his belly, feeling a little stretched.

Even though he has a 10-gauge belt, a military general eats a lot, but today he still couldn't control his mouth and ate too much of the simple food from the Wu family.

"Let's go for a walk to eat."

Lao Cheng chatted with his daughter for a while, teased his grandchildren for a while, and then asked Huaiyu and Qin Qiong to go for a walk in the garden.

At this time, the sunset has completely set,

The evening breeze is gentle,

Cicadas are still chirping.

"Is it your idea, Erlang, to let my brothers return to the court this time?" Lao Cheng got straight to the point, "What do you want my brothers to do? Is it to protect the prince?"

Qin Qiong also asked, "But what happened?"

"It's nothing. It's just that some guys are persistent in their evil intentions. I just gave them a beating. But calling you back to the DPRK is actually not a big deal. I just think it's time for you to go back to the DPRK and reunite with your wife and children in Beijing. You should enjoy the happiness. Yes." Huaiyu smiled.

Lao Cheng patted his round belly and said, "If there's anything you need me to do, don't be so polite, just ask."

"When you two return to court, it will be enough to intimidate many people." Huaiyu also said bluntly.

"Then there is no need for the two of us to serve as the left and right guards of the East Palace, right? I thought that while we were outside, something big changed in the court, and we needed to take action."

"Just sit back and take charge."

Qin Qiong asked, "How are you, His Royal Highness?" "You've been a little depressed recently, but you're fine."

It is the emperor's decree to summon Qin Qiong and Cheng Yaojin back to the court.

However, there are many unknown secrets behind the scenes, and there are even wars where no gunpowder can be seen.
Just as Wu Huaiyu said,
When the two of them came back, it wasn't actually the emperor or Wu Huaiyu who needed them to take action, they hadn't reached that point yet.

But it also released enough signals,

Coupled with adjustments made by Zhang Liang, Wei Ting and others,

This round is actually a heavy blow to the so-called Wei Wang Party, which has made a slight rise.

The King of Wei was originally going to leave the capital this year to join the vassal state, but the emperor ordered the King of Wei to stay in the capital for another three years, delaying his joining the vassal state. Moreover, the King of Wei was the only one who received this order at that time.

However, at that time, the emperor sent his eldest uncle, Sun Guoji, to serve as the governor of Luozhou. Wu Huaiyu also did not have to send him to be the governor of Guangzhou.
This caused Hou Junji, Wei Ting and many others to misunderstand.

This is how the following actions came about,
There was also a swift counterattack by the princelings represented by Wu Huaiyu and Changsun Wuji.

The emperor saw all this in his eyes,
Zhang Liang was demoted as the Protector of Annan, Wei Ting was demoted as the Governor of Puzhou, and Wang Gui and Du Chuke were relieved of their part-time jobs in the Wei Palace. These were all sending clear signals.

Qin Qiong Cheng Yaojin entered the court, held an important position, and concurrently served as the leader of the East Palace, which only made it further clear.

The emperor was also a little dissatisfied with the prince's recent state.

So after the morning court that day, the emperor summoned the prince and gave him a task.

"Huaiyu asked for the abolition of the money-grabbing order. After careful consideration, I feel that it should be abolished. Now the imperial court has drawn up a plan. Not only will the more than 600 money-grabbing orders of more than 70 bureaus in Chang'an be abolished, but they will also be completely abolished. The history of all the money-catching orders of various yamen inside and outside,
It probably involves tens of thousands of money-catching officials.
In addition, there is still a large amount of public money.

Huaiyu suggested that these public funds should be invested in the Hubu Bank, Changpingcang, etc. as capital, and then allocate an additional amount of money to expand the capital. These funds would be used to issue young crop loans, agricultural loans, etc. to help the people in production. We even need to build another industrial and commercial bank to provide assistance to craftsmen and merchants with loans..."

It is not easy to sort out this matter and do it well. It involves a wide range of things.

Li Shimin trusted Wu Huaiyu's ability,

He hoped that the prince would also join Wu Huaiyu's case and learn together, which would not only increase his knowledge and ability, but also help him get out of this trough.

"If there is anything you don't understand, just read more, listen more, ask more questions, and learn more. Wu Huaiyu is your teacher, so you should learn from him."

The prince then went to the Ministry of Civil Affairs to find Wu Huaiyu.

Wu Huaiyu was discussing this important matter with his subordinates.

The first is the history of money-catching orders involving tens of thousands of people. In these money-catching orders, those who officially leaked their status as foreign officials are actually more than 600 people from the capital.
But there are still tens of thousands of money-catching officials, who are either transferred to catch money in other capacities, or are supernumerary and temporary. In short, they all do exist.

Now if we want to get rid of these people, we can't just say a word, they have to be resettled.

Wu Huaiyu’s plan is to expand the scale of the Bank of the Ministry of Finance and expand its branches to various states and counties, which itself also requires a lot of manpower.
Therefore, these money-catching officials can be transferred to the bank, and of course their status will be different.

In the past, people were employed as outsiders, or as outsiders, as money-catchers in various bureaucracies in the capital. They could even be promoted to officials if they performed well in catching money, which was a shortcut to the south.

If you can later become an employee of a bank, you will be considered a career employee at most. Salary and benefits will be guaranteed, but you will never be able to hold an official position, or even get paid to be promoted to an official.

Another issue is to clean up the public money lent in various places within a time limit. This account must be cleaned up and settled, and no unfinished business can be left to harm the country and the people.

Secondly, Wu Huaiyu plans to not only expand the scale of the household bank, but also build new agricultural banks and industrial and commercial banks.

He also plans to raise 15 million yuan as the capital of these three government-run banks to provide lending business.

After sorting out the original grain reserves of Changpingcang, Changpingcang returned to its origins and maintained its basic role of stabilizing prices and providing relief to the people.

In good years, the price should be appropriately raised to buy grain to prevent low prices from hurting farmers; in famine years, the price should be appropriately lowered to sell grain to help the people.

Changpingcang no longer places loans to young people, etc.

Of course, if the people are in trouble, they can still borrow grain from Changpingcang. The interest still has to be paid, but it is lower than that of the private sector. Moreover, borrowing grain and paying back grain will not repeatedly exploit the people. This will maintain the healthy operation of Changpingcang. , it can also help the people more and adjust the market prices of bulk commodities such as grain and cloth.

The matter of borrowing money and lending will be left to the three major banks in the future, the Hubu Bank, the Agricultural Bank, and the Industrial and Commercial Bank, or also known as the Minbu Bank, Shaofu Bank, and Taifu Bank.

The main business of these three government-run banks is lending, each with its own focus. They provide short-term, medium-term and long-term lending services. They will not engage in the same restraint tasks as public money lending, and the interest rates will not be too high.
If you need a loan, it's purely voluntary.

Of course, some guarantees may also be required.

But it also provided service assistance to the people and even businesses in this regard, and the court could also obtain interest on the loan.

When lending 50,000 yuan from public servants, the profit is 4,000 yuan a month and doubles in a year.

The loan interest rates of the three major banks planned by Wu Huaiyu are of a certain nature of assistance, so there are restrictions on various types of loans, and the interest rate is two cents per year.
The annual interest rate is 20%, which is only one-fifth of that of public money lending.

Industrial and commercial loans are higher, with a minimum of 20 and a maximum of 40, which is still only 40% of public loans.

Compared with the common double profit among the people, nine out of ten returns, or even compound interest such as lamb profit and donkey rolling, it is much better.

"Will this compete with the people?" Cheng Qian suddenly asked after listening to Wu Huaiyu's introduction.

Wu Huaiyu was left speechless by the question.

Competing with the people for profit at every turn is just a banner of some people with ulterior motives, or some vested interest groups that have been touched.

"I would like to ask Your Highness the Crown Prince: The imperial court raises money and grain funds to provide loan support to the common people and merchants to meet their urgent needs and even support their production and development.

The interest is much less than on public money in the past, and even less than on private loans.

How can this be called competing with the people for profit?
Do you think that if ordinary people and merchants have difficulties in the future, they will first come to our government-run banks for loans instead of private usury loans, so it is called competing for profits with the people? "

"Your Highness, who are the real people?"

(End of this chapter)