Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 22 A Prime Minister Who Can't Make Money Is a Waste

In the winter of the 24th year of Kaiyuan, Li Longji visited Zhongnan Mountain, more than 100 miles away from Chang'an City, with all the officials of the central government.Zhang Jiuling, Pei Yaoqing and others all accompanied them.

Prince Shou Li Xuan, the son of Concubine Wu Hui who was favored by Li Longji, was also among the people accompanying him, which shocked many people.Many thoughtful people are wondering what the purpose of Li Longji's move is.

Within a few days after Li Longji and his party left Chang'an, rumors arose in the city, saying that the saint would sacrifice to heaven at Zhongnan Mountain, then abolish the crown prince and make Li Wei the new crown prince.For a while, people in the elite circle were panicked, and undercurrents surged.

Of course, the New Year is the time to celebrate the New Year, and it will not stop because of the rumors of the abolition of the prince.Only the high-ranking officials and dignitaries are affected. Ordinary ordinary people, how can they care about who is the prince?

This incident had different effects on different people and places in Chang'an City.

For example, Chang'an East Market mainly sells items belonging to the nobles, and the people living in the surrounding area are also dignitaries, so the items there are not affordable for ordinary people.

Due to the influence of rumors about the abolition of the crown prince, the business in East City has been greatly affected. Not only are there no crowds during the Chinese New Year, but the business is much cooler than usual.

However, Chang'an West City, where civilians and ordinary wealthy people are the main consumers, has not been affected by the rumors of the abolition of the prince.There is an endless stream of Chang'an residents shopping for New Year's goods in the West Market.

Even the merchants from the Western Regions gather around and work hard in order to get a share of the business in the peak season.

Chang'an is highly commercialized. Things that other places, especially rural areas, need to prepare themselves, are sold here.For example, Tusu wine, five-spice plate, fake flowers and fruits, glue teeth and other necessary items needed for New Year celebrations are not only available in various varieties, but also divided into grades.

The rich have the luxury of the rich, and the poor have the luxury of the poor. The two are distinct, do not interfere with each other, and each enjoys his or her own pleasure.

If you don't look at other places in the Tang Dynasty, but only focus on Chang'an, then the Tang Dynasty is indeed in its heyday, and there is nothing to be picky about.

A neat and majestic city.

Orderly and dignified.

A wide variety of products.

Convenient and stable life.

And the memory of peace without war for many years.

Chang'an is the pearl of the Tang Dynasty and the symbol of the Tang Dynasty. It is a city that lives in the memory of history books, and even in the memory of the nation!
Of course, no matter how good your own home is, you will get bored after living for a long time.Although Chang'an is good, for Li Longji, it has long lost its sense of novelty.This time, he took all the officials to visit Zhongnan Mountain, which can be regarded as the emperor's annual vacation for himself.

There was no such thing as "Spring Festival" in the Tang Dynasty.The first day of the Lunar New Year was called "New Year's Day", "Yuan Day" or "Yuan Zheng" in Tang Dynasty.

In the early days of Kaiyuan, Li Longji promulgated the "False Ning Order": "Yuanzheng and Winter Solstice will each be given seven days off." The second and third grades of junior high school are similar to the Golden Week in Fang Chongyong's previous life.

Li Longji himself is a fun-loving person. It seems reasonable to go to the surrounding mountains to enjoy the snow and worship the heavens during the Chinese New Year.It's okay for the emperor to engage in team building.

Just a few days before the new year, there was heavy snow in Chang'an, and the house of Li Linfu's family in Pingkangfang was being renovated and rebuilt in full swing to prepare for the new year.

The area of ​​Pingkangfang is not small, with a length of 1022 meters from east to west and about 500 meters from north to south. The total area is about 50 square meters, that is, nearly half the size of the Forbidden City (the Forbidden City covers an area of ​​72 square meters).

In the northwest corner of Pingkangfang is the Princess Changning Mansion.This house alone occupies a full quarter of the area of ​​Pingkangfang, and there is also a Cuju field in it.However, after Tang Ruizong came to power during the Jingyun period, Princess Changning lost her power and left Chang'an, sold the whole mansion in a package, and divided the house to build a new house.

Now many houses here have been converted into brothels.In order to make it easier for officials to "pick up prostitutes" after going to court, these brothels were located next to the square gate.It is easy for guests to come in and it is also easy for them to leave.

In the southwest corner of Pingkangfang are the residences of many court officials, such as Chu Suiliang's residence, Pei Guangting's residence and so on.Moreover, the Imperial Court's Jinzhao Academy has always been located here and has not changed.

The households in the northeast corner are relatively large and complex, and the houses are very finely divided.The one to the west is "Sanqu", and the others are small retail households, which are often rented to some down-and-out students who have entered the Chang'an imperial examination.

There is also a temple here called Yanghua Temple.

"Sanqu" is where prostitutes live, the northernmost one is poor and lowly prostitutes, they can only do skin and meat business, and they dare not even report their names.Erqu Sanqu is a frequent visitor to the nobleman's mansion in Chang'an, and lives a lot more comfortably.

The southeast corner of Pingkangfang is where Li Linfu's house is located, which together with the Bodhi Temple occupies a quarter of the space of Pingkangfang.

In other words, Li Linfu's mansion is indeed not much smaller than that of Princess Changning's mansion back then.

Expansion is impossible. The size and scale of the houses that officials can own are customized. Besides, many of the people living in Pingkangfang are nobles. It is impossible for Li Linfu to offend these people in order to expand his own house.

He was promoted to an official and repaired a house, which is understandable in the old rules of the officialdom, but occupying someone else's house is obviously over the line.

Not only did Li Linfu not show off, he even deliberately kept a low profile.His house, even the outside yard, including the walls of the yard remained the same, but the furnishings inside had changed a lot.

Under Li Linfu's strong request, the craftsmen broke through the walls between the wing rooms and built partitions between the rooms, which can only accommodate two people and a table.Let's say it's a reception, the place is too small.Say you want to be quiet, but it's too closed.

It's a bit like a place to plot big things.

The decoration of Zuoxiang's house in the Tang Dynasty required such a lot of trouble, which made the craftsmen feel unbelievable.It's just that Li Linfu was generous and powerful, and the one-time advance payment of the project was generous. These craftsmen had no choice but to treat themselves as blind, deaf and dumb.

Anyway, if you see it, pretend you didn't see it, if you hear it, pretend you didn't hear it, if you know it, pretend you have forgotten it, that's all right.

The yard is being rebuilt, but Li Linfu in the study is receiving guests.

The guest who came was Xiao Jiong, Li Linfu's henchman, who used to be an official of the household department, and Li Linfu's former subordinate.

Why add "before"?

Because he was demoted at this juncture of the new year.

The reason for being demoted is also bizarre.

Xiao Jiong, who is the servant of the household department, not long ago went to attend an official gathering together with Yan Tingzhi, the servant of Zhongshu.During this period, Xiao Jiong was probably bored, so he took a copy of "Book of Rites" and flipped it over to pass the time.

In fact, this is also normal, because central officials in the Tang Dynasty spent a lot of time fishing and had a lot of boring chores.

But it shouldn't be the case. Xiao Jiong read it out when he saw it, and he even read it wrong!

Of course, there is a sentence in the book called "Steaming and Tasting Fula". Xiao Jiong recognized a white character and pronounced La as the word "hunting".

If Fang Chongyong did such a stupid thing when he was in school in his previous life, it would definitely be harmless. Who dares to say that he didn't read wrong words when he was reading?
But at this juncture, especially in the eyes of court officials, typos are a big deal.

In fact, this is also easy to understand. There is no trivial matter in the officialdom, no matter how small it is, it is enough to kill people at certain moments!

Because the "Book of Rites" was one of the must-read books for scholars in the Tang Dynasty, it is a must when participating in school system learning.And the word "La" is not a rare word or a variant.

The fact that Xiao Jiong can pronounce it as "lurking" already shows that he has no idea what this word means. To put it simply, this person is a bastard, a fake scholar who sneaked into the court without knowing how!
The officialdom in the Tang Dynasty was dangerous, and the "good people" recorded in history books may not have noble personal morals.

Yan Tingzhi was quite unkind, and after hearing Xiao Jiong's misreading, he burst out laughing on purpose, making everyone know about it.

What's more insidious is that he didn't say it outright on the spot, but after he came back, he took Xiao Jiong's embarrassing incident as a joke everywhere, and even directly found Zhongshuling Zhang Jiuling, and said this sentence: Provincial (Shangshu Sheng) How can there be a "hunting servant" in the middle of the world!
Zhang Jiuling is a traditional scholar-bureaucrat, and he doesn't think much of uneducated people (the ability to manage money is not considered knowledge in the eyes of these people).Therefore, under Zhang Jiuling's operation, it didn't take long for the central government to transfer Xiao Jiong to Qizhou as the governor.

Hugh Mu now, Xiao Jiong must not go to another place to take up his post, and it must be after the Lantern Festival to leave.So he spent a lot of money to buy two jars of Honglianchun, and came to Li Linfu with the wine to find a way.

"Prime Minister Li, there is something big going on with Zhang Jiuling!"

Xiao Jiong approached Li Linfu and said in a deep voice.

"What's the big deal about Mr. Zhang?"

Li Linfu smiled, waved his hand indifferently, and poured Xiao Jiong a glass of Honglianchun, secretly annoyed in his heart, but his face remained calm.

The power struggle between him and Zhang Jiuling has already begun, and it has entered a fierce stage of endless death.

Li Linfu believed that Zhang Jiuling criticized Xiao Jiong not because Xiao Jiong mispronounced a word, but because... he was excluding dissidents!Xiao Jiong was Li Linfu's thug in the household department.Without Xiao Jiong, Li Linfu would lose control of the household department to a certain extent.

As for what Zhang Jiuling planned, it's actually not that important.Stones blocking the road must be moved away.If Zhang Jiuling doesn't come down, how can Li Linfu himself become the right prime minister?They are all going to fight to the death anyway, and there is no shortage of them.

Li Linfu relied on financial management to get up. If he can't control the household department, what kind of financial management is there?

"The phase is vacant, Zhang Jiuling wants to get Yan Tingzhi into the phase!"

Seeing Li Linfu's indifferent appearance, Xiao Jiong gritted his teeth and said, and drank the wine in the glass fiercely!

For those who ride horses, Hong Lianchun is really expensive.Unfortunately, people like this kind of style. They will look down on cheap things, no matter how good they are, because they think they will lose their status if they get them!Xiao Jiong secretly cursed the person who brewed Honglianchun as a black heart.

"Is it?"

Li Linfu nodded noncommittally, secretly calculating gains and losses in his heart.

Of the three prime ministers, Zhang Jiuling is still the right prime minister, Pei Yaoqing was demoted because he "misappropriated" Li Longji's "pocket money", and the position of prime minister was vacated.

It is actually human nature for Zhang Jiuling to want to help Yan Tingzhi, who has a good personal relationship with him.

How Li Longji will make a decision, it is difficult to predict now.

In Li Linfu's view, Zhang Jiuling's biggest problem is that he doesn't understand what Li Longji lacks!
Times have changed, what Li Longji lacks today is money!
For the Tang Empire to run smoothly, what it lacks is money!
money!money!money!
Anything other than money is nothing to worry about!

Now is the era of money. In the early years, those ministers thought that writing articles and memorials for the emperor would make them rise to the top. Hehe, I can only say that reading is stupid!Times have changed a long time ago!

Can Zhang Jiuling make money for Li Longji?If so, how much can you do?Can you do more than yourself?
Thinking of this, Li Linfu was full of confidence that the key to solving the problem was in his hands.

For Li Longji, a prime minister who cannot make money is a waste and can be removed at any time!

A prime minister who can make money is what Li Longji needs in the future.This is true both for the country and for Li Longji himself.

"The truth about this matter is already known, you go to Qizhou to take office first, and then talk about Yan Tingzhi's matter, the truth will be dealt with."

Li Linfu said to Xiao Jiong with a smile on his face without commenting.

After Xiao Jiong had no choice but to thank him a thousand times, he left in embarrassment.

After he left, Li Linfu shook the silver lotus wine glass while concentrating on his thoughts.

"What does the prince want to do?"

Li Linfu was talking to himself, stroking the long beard on his chin.In his eyes, Zhang Jiuling was just a dead bone in the tomb, and now he was troubled by another important matter.

……

The apes on both sides of the strait couldn't help, and Qingzhou had passed the Ten Thousand Mountains.

Starting from Kuizhou, the high-spirited Zheng Shuqing took Fang Chongyong, who was full of worries, and a group of people took an official boat and went down the Yangtze River to Hanyang City (Hanyang District, Wuhan) after a day of repairing.Then turn into the Han River and go north to Xiangyang, where we are going to continue north along the Baihe River and enter Guanzhong on the Wuguan Road.

However, when they arrived outside Xiangyang City, they were surprised to find that the Baihe River was frozen and the waterway could not continue!

So everyone could only disembark at the Hanyin post not far to the west of Xiangyang City. This post is both a water post and a land post. endlessly.

The size of the stables alone is very spectacular, among which there are dozens of stage horses!

Fang Chongyong stood outside the Hanyin Station and observed carefully, and found that there were actually several halls, pavilions, pavilions and gardens inside the station.It is not as crowded as the imagined "youth hostel".The whole building with white walls and Uva looks very grand.

He couldn't help but have a question in his heart: for a post station of this scale, there are probably not a few horses.Could it be that the center of the Tang Dynasty is a big dog, willing to spend money to maintain such a large post station?

It's not that he has many questions, but that there are more than 600 inns in the Tang Dynasty!If an inn consumes several hundred guan every year, it also costs hundreds of thousands of guan!The post station not only provides free food and lodging for officials coming and going, but is also responsible for delivering messages.

House maintenance, food and drink, horse feeding, personnel salaries, which one does not cost money?Can such a large-scale post station hold hundreds of pens a year?Datang is afraid that he will be deprived of running these post stations!
Fang Chongyong couldn't understand at all.

Zheng Shuqing seemed to see his doubts, and leaned over and said in a low voice: "The post stations in various places are indeed not allowed to receive wealthy businessmen and pedestrians. But look at the Qutang post in Kuizhou, where people come and go. Could it be that the people living in it are all Are they officials? How can there be so many officials going to Shu?"

Hearing this, Fang Zhongyong understood in seconds.

When he first saw that Qutang Station in Kuizhou was overcrowded, he thought it was filled with officials.Only now do I know the answer. It turns out that most of the people living inside are not officials, but wealthy and well-connected businessmen.

Even poets who have no official position have spent time in the post station and have a meal.

In fact, this is also very understandable.

In a feudal society, people lived at a very slow pace. Even in a place like Kuizhou, the throat of the southwest, how many officials would live here in a month?How many officials will frequently travel to and from Shu along the Yangtze River?

The answer is obvious.

Just as the government of the Tang Dynasty did not allow the killing of cattle to eat beef.A ban is a ban, eating meat is eating meat, the two go hand in hand, people who like to eat will still eat!
The government does not allow post stations in various places to receive businessmen, but apart from the post stations around Luoyang in Chang'an, which post stations do not rely on this kind of "extra money" to maintain their livelihoods?The imperial court's order of death is always less important than livelihood.

When people die of poverty, they have nothing. What is the use of talking to these people?

If there are not many officials passing through the post station this year (this situation is very common), should all the people in the post station be dismissed?So what if an official passes by and wants to stay and eat?Should we recall those who were dismissed again?

This is of course unrealistic!

Therefore, the central government would turn a blind eye to matters such as "accepting private work" at various post stations, and would ignore it as long as no one reported it.

The post stations below are also in full swing, and are even "outsourced" to be run by big local households!

All things compete for freedom. In order to survive and live better, people can always think of better ways.

Fang Chongyong and his party entered the Hanyin post, and asked the post to serve some local specialties in Xiangyang, such as eel, scallops, and crucian carp.

At this moment, they saw a young man in poor clothes who was being pushed out of the station by the postmen.Those postmen looked very rude, completely opposite to the humble attitude they received Zheng Shuqing and the others!

"That person is an official, ask him to come over and have a drink together."

Fang Chongyong suggested to Zheng Shuqing in a low voice.

　The information in this chapter comes from the "Tang Dynasty Traffic Map Research" written by Yan Gengwang, including the previous scenery of Kuizhou, which also refers to the narrative.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)