All the wharves in Guanzhong are frozen, and the land roads are covered with snow. Except for small convoys, it is difficult for large caravans to pass.
Therefore, a large number of caravans were stranded in Guanzhong and were not allowed to leave.
Chang'an is the capital of the capital, with a large population and high prices. Businessmen have to be careful with their budgets. If they stay in Chang'an, they will eat horses, eat horses, eat food, and stay in hotels every day. The cost is too high, so they leave Chang'an and stay temporarily in various counties in Guanzhong.
A large number of merchants resided in Xinfeng.
The Wei River passes through here and there are many docks. Once the Wei River is opened and easy to pass, you can go down the river and turn into the Yellow River. It is convenient to go north along the Yongji Canal or south along the Ji Canal.
In the past, when so many caravans gathered in the county, the shops would probably be extremely happy. The large number of people meant an increase in daily expenses. Such a huge amount of daily expenses left in Xinfeng would be enough for every shop.
Make a fortune and have a prosperous year.
However, since the beginning of winter this year, there has been continuous heavy snowfall, rivers are frozen and land roads are blocked, Guanzhong is sparsely populated, and food from outside cannot be transported in. Food shortage has become a top priority.
If you don’t have enough to eat, how can you think about doing business?
The locals don’t have enough to eat, let alone outsiders?
Therefore, although a large number of merchants from other places stayed in Xinfeng, it still looked lifeless and disorganized, lacking the prosperity and prosperity of the past.
His Majesty Li Er got off an ordinary carriage and stood on the bank of the Weishui River with his hands behind his back. He looked at the tall stone monument in front of him and the crowded porridge shed not far away, his face sinking like water.
Li Junxian and Wang De stood behind His Majesty Li Er on the left and right, watching the surrounding situation nervously. Once they found any potential danger, they would issue an order and the elite "Hundred Cavalry" lurking around would gather around.
, protect the Holy Driver.
An endless stream of people walked out of the city, supporting the elderly and the young, and lined up in front of the porridge shed, holding bowls and basins in their hands, waiting to receive free porridge.
His Majesty Li Er found that in addition to the bowls and basins for serving porridge, every commoner also had a small wooden sign, but he didn't know what it was, so he asked in a low voice: "What is that wooden sign?"
Li Junxian took a look and replied: "Report to your Majesty..."
His Majesty Li Er waved his hand: "This is not a palace confinement, I am leaving the palace incognito. You don't have to stick to etiquette, just act like an ordinary person."
Li Junxian heard this and said: "No."
He straightened his waist and continued: "This is a number plate. It is issued according to household registration. With this number plate, all people in Xinfeng can receive a free bowl of hot porridge every day. If there is no number plate, they are not local people and cannot receive it.
Porridge."
His Majesty Li Er nodded his head and praised: "This is a wonderful thing. In this way, you can avoid claiming too much and pretending to claim it. Is it Uncle Cen Wen's handiwork? But it would be too harsh on non-local residents and lose his benevolent heart."
However, after thinking about it for a moment, I understood Uncle Cen Wen's difficulties, and the slightest bit of unhappiness disappeared.
He is the emperor, leading the land, and he is not a royal minister. All the people in the world are his subjects, so he does not want to see any people suffering from hunger.
However, Uncle Cen Wen was just the county magistrate of a locality and the parent official of the people of Xinfeng. His first priority was to safeguard the interests of the local people.
The road was blocked by heavy snow, so even if you had money, you couldn't buy food. Although Xinfeng received a lot of donations with Li Ke's help, the food was still limited.
As a Xinfengling, it is naturally not a dereliction of duty.
Li Junxian said: "This thing was conceived by His Highness King Wu. The food in the city is limited, so it is impossible for everyone to receive it for free, so we have to pay attention to the local people first. This porridge shed was originally in the city, but there were ruffians in the city a few days ago.
The incident caused riots in the city, so they moved outside the city."
His Majesty Li Er nodded slightly and looked up at the writing on the stone tablet.
Kong Yingda was a great Confucian of the time, with a good character. Just like his person, his words were square and well-organized, making him easily identifiable.
Looking at the rubbings on the stone tablet, His Majesty Li Er looked very ugly.
There are so many wealthy and wealthy families who cannot be kind and generous when natural disasters strike. Instead, they have to rely on someone to force them to give out money and food. It's so cruel!
The most abominable thing is that these dignitaries and relatives advance and retreat together with Li Tai for political interests, without caring whether it will delay disaster relief or how many people will die of cold and hunger!
Selfishness and indifference are simply unforgivable!
As an emperor, His Majesty Li Er saw hidden worries in this.
Those who gathered around Li Tai, apart from the wealthy businessmen from the south of the Yangtze River, were still closely related to the Long family.
In the past, the Guanlong family was monolithic, but now there are gaps?
You must know that the Guanlong family, headed by Changsun Wuji, has always been a staunch supporter of the prince. Now there are actually people joining Li Tai's camp. In addition, the Shandong family has been silent and neutral since the "Xuanwumen Incident".
The Jiangdong nobles, who have been rich for many generations, are in a state of turmoil in the court.
Sooner or later something big is going to happen!
His Majesty Li Er has no favorable impression of these wealthy and powerful families at all, even though he himself was born in them!
Every time the government is in turmoil and the world is unstable, wouldn't these aristocratic families be behind the scenes to stir up trouble and fan the flames?
Aristocratic families are basically the cancer of the country. This was the case in the Sui Dynasty, and it is still the case in the Tang Dynasty today.
However, His Majesty Li Er also knows rationally that the huge strength accumulated by aristocratic families for hundreds of years has penetrated into every corner of society and the court, and it definitely cannot be eliminated overnight.
Even though he personally issued an order to revise the "Chronicles of Clan", some people still ranked the Cui family as number one, and did not take the Li family, the supreme family in the world, seriously!
His Majesty Li Er was in a bad mood and was worried about himself when he was suddenly attracted by several people passing by not far away.
Those people were wearing brocade robes and fast boots. They were gorgeously dressed but had no servants to serve them. They walked quickly through the snow. They were obviously businessmen from other places who were stranded here.
Only one person was heard saying: "I don't know what the second roommate is up to. It's freezing cold today. Call us over to open that...what's the name of the meeting?"
Another person laughed and said: "Tasting meeting...Brother Yu is really smart. He can't remember these three short words, but there are thousands of current accounts and there are no mistakes at all. Is it possible that he is born with the talent for business?"
talent?"
The man from before laughed and said: "Who is born to be willing to do business? Businessmen are humble. If they were not begging for food, they would rather be farmers!"
Another person teased: "Come on, brother Yu, you have an income of more than 100,000 yuan a year, but you are still begging for food? Compared with you, we are almost catching up with the beggars."
Brother Nayu sighed and said: "Fortunately, the emperor is now a wise man, and he is surrounded by more good ministers and generals. He is not harsh on merchants, and the government is also clear. Otherwise, let's just talk about the second son of the house... a tasting meeting, right?
?Yes, the tasting meeting... I don’t know how many censors will impeach me.”
Someone next to him laughed and said, "Come on, what is the censor that Fang Er is afraid of impeaching? He even beat the censor and the censor, and I haven't seen him do anything to him."
Brother Yu also smiled and said: "That's true. The second roommate is a stick, and he will get angry with anyone who messes with him. In my opinion, even His Majesty doesn't care about him... But what kind of treasure did he get this time?
, but also to summon the wealthy businessmen from all over the world to attend the meeting together?"
"It's called a tasting, and it's nothing more than bringing out a treasure. Everyone has a look at it. If someone likes it, they can bid to buy it. If there are multiple people who want it at the same time, the one with the highest price will get it."
"But I don't know what kind of treasure it is?"
"Who knows? The invitation was exquisitely made, but the words were unclear. It only mentioned a rare treasure, but it didn't say what it was..."
"Who cares? He is the prime minister's son after all. The invitations have been sent, so he has to give the prime minister some face."
"That's right. Otherwise, in this cold weather, who would be free to look at the treasures?"
A few people were chatting and laughing, passing His Majesty Li Er, unaware that the wealthy middle-aged man on the roadside was the current His Majesty.