Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 498 Li Zhongxian Gong (Special thanks to the book friend who has been reading the book for 2 years and has monthly tickets!)

Duke Yiguo Li Yun died of illness in the 35th year of Kaixi (994) at the age of 85.

Chai Zongxun specially granted Li Yun a burial with the ceremony of a king. After consulting with his ministers, he posthumously named Li Yun "Zhongxian", and the world called him "Duke Li Zhongxian".

His eldest son Li Shoujie inherited the title of Duke of Yiguo, Fu Jinding was promoted to the first-rank lady, and Li Enbo was made the crown prince.

After Li Yun's death, Li Enbo felt the fickleness of the world and the indifference of human nature in just two years:
Without the highly respected and well-connected Li Yun, the many nobles in Bianliang obviously treated the people who rebelled against the Duke's Mansion less seriously than before.

This made Li Enbo, who had always been a playboy, finally start to reflect on himself.

When they were in the mansion on weekdays, Hu Yan Chi Jin advised:
"My husband, if we want our Li family to prosper for generations, we must train our descendants to strive for progress and make contributions to the country.

Otherwise, with just a powerless and hopeless title of duke, how many princes and nobles would look up to our family?

My husband, you must stop living an absurd life and complete His Majesty's instructions as soon as possible. Passing the imperial examination and becoming an official in the court is the way to prosper our family!"

Li Enbo, who was rather coldly treated by outsiders, suddenly realized that compared to his father-in-law Huyan's family, whose four sons all passed the military imperial examination and served as officers in the Longxiang Army, and whose eldest and second sons were both army commanders, their actual reputation and strength in the court and the country of the Great Zhou far exceeded that of his own Li family.

Li Enbo began to concentrate on studying business. Unexpectedly, he became more and more interested in it, and many of his previous bad habits of being unfaithful disappeared without him noticing.

Finally, in May of the 37th year of Kaixi, he passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi in commerce.

At the banquet, Chai Zongxun could not help but encourage Li Enbo a few words, saying:
"Duke Li Zhongxian is Taizu's most trusted minister. He has always been loyal to me and the country. My dear minister, you should inherit your grandfather's loyalty and bravery and make contributions to the country!
I will reward you generously for your contribution!"

Li Enbo was overjoyed. Seeing that the emperor's attitude towards him was obviously much better after he passed the imperial examination, he immediately left the table to express his gratitude.

A few days later, Chai Zongxun arranged the career paths of the successful candidates with the cabinet and other ministers at the morning court session. Most of them were sent to various prefectures and counties in the Great Zhou Dynasty, starting as officials of the eighth or ninth rank, such as county magistrate and assistant judge.

On June 26, the 37th year of Kaixi, Chai Zongxun had just returned to the palace from visiting Chai Wodan and Di Qing, mother and son, at the Princess's residence when a eunuch came to report that Li Enbo wanted to see him and had been waiting in the front yard of the palace for a long time.

Chai Zongxun immediately ordered Li Enbo to be taken to the Yangxin Palace for an audience.

After half an hour, when Chai Zongxun changed into the emperor's regular clothes and came to the Yangxin Palace, Li Enbo was already waiting there.

After greeting, Li Enbo smiled and said:
"Your Majesty, the reason I came to bother you this time is actually to discuss the future of my career."

Chai Zongxun frowned slightly, thinking that Li Enbo's cousin was asking him for a high position, and said:

"Lord Li, although you are a relative of the emperor, the laws of the country cannot be abolished.

Newly-appointed Jinshi have always been sent to serve as officials of the eighth or ninth rank in various prefectures and counties. As long as they perform well in the future official examinations, they will be promoted quickly without worries. "

Li Enbo said hurriedly:
"Your Majesty governs the world with filial piety and law, and is a sage ruler that China has never seen before!

How dare I not obey the laws and regulations set by Your Majesty?
I would like to ask Your Majesty to send me to the "Great Zhou Railway Bureau" and start as an official of the eighth or ninth rank."

Chai Zongxun smiled and said:
"Lord Li, I heard that many Jinshi scholars were unwilling to go to the newly established "Great Zhou Railway Bureau" and went to various prefectures and counties to serve as the head of a county. Wouldn't that be impressive? Why would Lord Li want to be an official at the "Great Zhou Railway Bureau"?"

Li Enbo smiled and said:
"Your Majesty, since I have followed your orders and studied business diligently, the more I study, the more I feel that business is profound and interesting!
I am very interested in rail cars, and I am willing to contribute to the spread of rail cars throughout the country."

Chai Zongxun immediately chatted with Li Enbo about some business matters and found that Li Enbo did have some knowledge of business. Regarding the operation of the "railway car", he actually came up with very practical suggestions such as setting up schedules according to the population, setting up a station and a horse breeding point for the rail car in each county.

Chai Zongxun said happily:

"Li Aiqing has indeed made a lot of progress!

If so, I will send you to the "Great Zhou Rail Bureau" as an official to manage this important matter concerning people's livelihood for me!"

Li Enbo was overjoyed, thanked the emperor and left the hall.

On August 17, the 37th year of Kaixi, there was an early morning court session.

Li Hang, the chief minister of the cabinet, came out and said:
"Your Majesty, good news has come back from various prefectures in Fusang. After repeated field surveys by officials in charge of workshop production, rich gold and silver mines have been discovered in many places in Fusang! More than 50 mineral veins have been discovered so far.

I beg Your Majesty to send someone to various parts of Fusang to oversee the mining of gold and silver mines!"

Chai Zongxun was overjoyed because China was not rich in gold and silver, and copper coins had always been the main currency of transactions in the Great Zhou society.

In the early years of Kaixi, Chai Zongxun founded the "Royal Money House" and issued "Jiaozi" and silver notes to the public and businesses. This greatly solved the problem of large sums of money being difficult to carry and promoted the development of the commodity economy of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

After conquering the Karakhanid Khanate and other Star Christian countries in Central and West Asia, the gold and silver resources in these places were slightly richer than in the Central Plains. The Great Zhou Royal Commercial Group successively opened gold and silver mines here, slightly alleviating the demand for gold and silver in the commodity economy society.

Fuso has been known for frequent earthquakes since ancient times. Frequent crustal activity has brought many disasters to the Japanese people, but it also proves the saying "Misfortunes are often accompanied by blessings". It is precisely because of this special geological structure that Japan has extremely rich precious metal mineral resources, with silver reserves being the most abundant.

Japan's gold and silver mines are mainly caused by acidic magmatic activity in the Quaternary period. Therefore, they are shallowly distributed, well preserved, and very conducive to mining.

In terms of total reserves, gold and silver mines are among the best in the world.

Japan has produced many world-class gold and silver mines. Before the discovery of America, Japan produced nearly half of the world's gold. For two centuries, Japan's Sado Gold Mine was the world's most productive gold mine.

Japan once owned the world's largest gold mine, the Reiichi Gold Mine on Kyushu Island, with a total reserve of about 170 tons and an average content of 33 grams per ton. The most exaggerated thing is that the purity is over a kilogram per ton, ranking first in the world. In addition to this gold mine, Japan once owned the Sado Gold Mine and the Hiroshimai Mine in Hokkaido, both of which have high production. Japan's Ishikawa Silver Mine once accounted for one-third of the world's silver production.

Chai Zongxun said:

“Excellent!
These officials who were born as Jinshi of Engineering have lived up to my expectations! With the abundance of gold and silver mines in Fusang, they will greatly solve the problem of the prosperous commerce and trade in our Great Zhou society, but the shortage of gold and silver.

Having enough gold and silver will be of great benefit whether it is storage, transportation or trading!

I will leave the matter of going to Fusang to mine gold and silver mines to the "Royal Business Group" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. "

(End of this chapter)