This prince, it doesn't matter if you don't do it!

Chapter 31

The gentry itself is a very contradictory group.

First of all, they admire the system of scholars, farmers, industry and commerce.

For merchants, they are suppressing from the bottom of their hearts, but in detail, they are the biggest merchants in the entire Tang Dynasty!

At least, the top five major grain merchants in the Tang Dynasty all came from their gentry.

The main reason why the status of merchants is not high is not that merchants are not engaged in production, that they are not beneficial to the country, or that merchants are cunning.

What is the main reason?
The main reason is to prevent the merchants from becoming powerful and the courts against each other.

Dogs know how to make money in business, and they can make a lot of money!Don't these gentry know?
Therefore, suppressing the status of merchants has become the only thing they can do.

Otherwise, merchants with money, people, and status would hardly be able to sleep peacefully even for the emperor.

Of course, this is what the emperor wanted to see.

At least, in this day and age, businessmen are indeed a group of people that people love and hate.

With them, I am afraid that they are so powerful that there will be unspeakable evil deeds. Without them, the economy of a country may collapse.

In the end, suppressing the status of merchants became a rule that all classes acquiesced to.

……

Just when Li Chengqian and others went back, Cui's house in Jingyang.

Cui Hao called all the commercial leaders of Cui's family in Jingyang to his home.

Dozens of people, covering all walks of life.

The reason why the gentry is huge is not only because they monopolize knowledge, but because they rely on knowledge and gradually develop into all walks of life, which has led to the gentry's current glory.

"Everyone be quiet."

Dozens of people are in the main hall, and you talk to each other. It is exaggerated to say that it is like a vegetable market, but it is a bit chaotic after all.

Seeing that everyone was present, Cui Hao said, "I believe everyone knows that the crown prince has arrived in our Jingyang County, and the family wants us to control our respective industries.

After all, the crown prince is young and easily bewitched by traitors. That's why we made this trip. As a citizen of the Tang Dynasty, we have the responsibility and obligation to let His Royal Highness know where he is going. "

The greatest ability of cultural people is to throw the pot away, and at the same time, they can give all their dirty deeds a high-sounding reason.

"This is indeed our responsibility." Immediately, some people began to complain, "Our grain store has already rejected a large transaction, and it is absolutely impossible to buy enough grain from us."

The person who spoke was the largest grain merchant in Jingyang. They had already started to restrict large-scale grain transactions yesterday, only allowing small transactions.

The banner is that Jingyang has been plagued by natural disasters in recent years, in order to prevent people from hoarding goods and protect the local people in Jingyang from suffering from famine.

As for this one, when it comes to it, they are not afraid.

Cui Hao nodded, and said, "You still need to be careful about the food supply. There must be no mistakes in the supply to the common people. Otherwise, Mingyuan will not be able to explain it."

"Don't worry, we only restricted large transactions, but small transactions are still going on. After the news came from Chang'an, we roughly calculated that according to the team of His Royal Highness, if people eat horses, one hundred and eighties a day Ten catties of grain can't bear it.

If they want to satisfy them all the way westward, it is estimated that at least [-] catties of grain will be enough. "

This point, they have indeed carefully calculated.

Moreover, they will not deliberately prevent Li Chengqian's people from buying grain and opening the door to do business. As long as you come to the door, they will definitely sell it, but they will not conduct large transactions.

If a person buys ten catties at a time, and wants to get enough grain, it is estimated that he will have to buy a thousand times.

"By the way, why didn't you see brother Mingyuan?" Someone asked curiously.

Speaking of Cui Mingyuan, Cui Hao shook his head: "Mingyuan is an official after all, and he can't be like us in many cases, let alone him, I called everyone here today, just to let everyone know that our Prince is not easy to deal with. "

Then, Cui Hao briefly introduced what happened in the bamboo forest outside the city yesterday.

After he finished speaking, someone muttered: "The wind can enter, the rain can enter, but the prince cannot enter. What does he mean by this?"

Cui Mingyuan also shook his head and said, "I also thought about it for a long time yesterday, but I didn't have a clue."

He instinctively felt that there was something wrong with this sentence, but he just couldn't figure out where the problem was.

"It stands to reason that, as far as yesterday's situation is concerned, if His Highness the Crown Prince spoke to my elder brother at that time, my elder brother would not refuse, but why didn't His Highness the Crown Prince say so?"

Someone asked a puzzled question.

Indeed, yesterday, when Cui Hao revealed Li Chengqian's identity, he actually realized that he had lost the opportunity in this confrontation.

If Li Chengqian took this opportunity to speak, he could not refuse.

The premise that those who do not know are not guilty is that they do not know. When you know their identity and deliberately make things difficult, it is not in line with the etiquette of the monarch and his ministers.

But it was precisely this that confuses him.

"That's why I said, our Crown Prince is difficult to deal with. He would rather his own path be more difficult than to leave such an inexplicable sentence. Then there must be a deep meaning in this sentence, but we haven't figured it out yet. That's all."

Everyone discussed for a while.

In the end, he decided to deal with the matter in front of him first.

And the thing before them was to prevent Li Chengqian from purchasing enough supplies in Jingyang.

On this point, it is not a problem for them. After all, their Cui family and several other gentry families account for too much of the shops in Jingyang.

It's not just food and carriages, but it involves all walks of life.

Just a few local merchants in Jingyang did not have the ability to provide such a large amount of supplies to Li Chengqian.

Of course, Li Chengqian can actually leave Jingyang, and then switch to other cities to purchase, that's fine too.

If Li Chengqian did this, they would definitely not stop it.

But if Li Chengqian really wanted to do this, what did it mean? It could only mean that Li Chengqian left Jingyang in disgrace.

This is also a victory for the Cui family.

Suppressing the imperial power is what the gentry have been doing for a long time.

So, when Li Chengqian entered Jingyang City, if he left empty-handed, it would be Li Chengqian who would be ashamed.

In other words, after entering Jingyang City, Li Chengqian actually had no way out, and had to gain something here. This was not the reason for buying or not, but the confrontation between him and the gentry.

At the same time, Cui Mingyuan, who had just returned to the county government, was restless.

As far as Li Chengqian's words are concerned, it really drives him crazy.

He knew very well that there was nothing wrong with Li Chengqian's question.

They all rely on their own hands to eat, so why do they have to be classified into high and low?
But at the same time, he also understands that if the system of scholars, farmers, commerce and industry is broken, the world will be ruined again.

Don't talk about anything else, just talk about himself, why did he study so hard in the first place?Don't you just want to have a future?Don't you just want to be looked at by others?

He said that for the sake of the country and the country, and for the benefit of the people, he did not deny that there was such a reason, but he knew in his heart how much this reason accounted for.

(End of this chapter)