Liu Ling took Zhao Er and Hua Sanlang and did not rush back to the palace. Instead, they went straight to the largest street in Taiyuan City, Yanghe Street, which was called Guiren Street by the common people. The reason why this street was called Guiren Street
, as the name suggests, it is because this is the most prosperous street in Taiyuan, and most of the adults who are officials in the court choose to settle on this street.
Liu Ling asked a few guards to lead the horses far behind. He only took Hua Sanlang and Zhao Er on foot on the street. On both sides of the street are the famous third-floor and first-floor shops in Taiyuan City. There are many shops and it looks very prosperous.
The so-called third floor and one store is actually a general term. It does not mean that there are only three buildings and one store on this street. The third floor refers to restaurants, tea houses, and brothels. The first store refers to inns.
No matter in any dynasty or in any city, there are always a few old hotels that are very famous. For example, the inn that Liu Ling and the others are walking towards now is called Yuelai Inn. In almost every big city in the north and south of the Yangtze River, there is one called Yuelai Inn.
For those who come to the inn, this does not mean that these inns all belong to the same owner, but the name is really good, and it means having friends come from far away.
However, the ones that can be called Yuelai Inn are old stores in this city, and they were the first to take this name. It can be seen from the name that this store must be very old.
All such old shops basically have some background. For example, the owner of the Juxianlou shop that Liu Ling visited before claimed that he was a descendant of Guo Ziyi, Prince of Pingyang County in the Tang Dynasty.
There is also the century-old Yiyuan Tea House opposite. It is said that the owner Wei Sheng is a descendant of Wei Zheng, a famous official of the Tang Dynasty.
However, Liu Ling did not bring Hanasanlang and Zhao Er here to go shopping. This was not the first time they had seen these famous old shops in Taiyuan City. The purpose of Liu Ling coming to Yanghe Street was to see people.
Wrong, it’s the people you’re looking at.
What Liu Ling wanted to see was those who made donations. A few days ago, the old prime minister Lu Sen suggested setting up several donation points on Yanghe Street to accept donations from the people. After Emperor Xiao made the announcement, Lu Sen arranged for dozens of people to come and go.
The streets were divided into five groups, and wooden boxes, carriages and horses were set up to collect money and grain.
What Liu Ling wants to see is how effective this donation point is. In fact, Liu Ling has seen this kind of thing earlier than anyone else. In modern times, donation boxes will be set up in every shopping mall. But in this era, it is estimated that it can also
It can be regarded as a pioneering work. As Liu Ling walked and looked at it, he found that whether this thing was placed in the Northern Han Dynasty or in modern times, it had one thing in common, that is, basically everyone turned a blind eye.
In modern times, no matter when you look at it, there are still a few 150-cent pieces of change in the box. However, Liu Ling went to two donation points and the box was empty.
Zhao Er sighed and said, "Master, Master Lu's suggestion doesn't seem to be very effective."
Huasanlang said: "There are not many people in Taiyuan City who have enough money and food. The people don't have much money to live on. Asking them to donate is no different from killing them. In my opinion, this
The box is in the wrong place."
Zhao Er smiled and said: "Then where do you think it should be placed?"
Hanasaburo pointed to the houses in the distance that were much taller than the houses and said: "Make a few more boxes and place them next to each other at the doorsteps of the homes of wealthy households and officials. Even if they don't give you money, they still need to take care of themselves."
Respond to them."
Liu Ling chuckled and said: "Sanlang said well, let's do this later."
Hanasaburo stuck out his tongue and said to himself that the Prince of Disgrace was really a good person to see.
Liu Ling said as he walked: "In this case, Sanlang, I will leave this matter to you. Find a few more carpenters and make a hundred boxes overnight. Then send people to place them at the doorsteps of the wealthy households in the city. Be sure to
Placing it in the center of the doorway will not work at all."
Zhao Er secretly thought that the prince's move was too damaging. How could he go out? If he was so angry, he wouldn't smash the box in anger.
Just when he thought of this, he heard Liu Ling say: "Don't put a note on the donation box, just put it at the door. If someone smashes it... Haha, let them pay a hundred guan at the original price, not even one copper less."
If anyone dares not to give it, bring up my name and tell them that this wooden box is a valuable item of the imperial court. If they don't pay according to the price, all the family property will be confiscated and the whole family will be sent to the south to guard the border."
Hanasaburo and Zhao Er were stunned at the same time, wondering what a bully is. People like our prince are the real bullies. A wooden box costs only a few pennies, but it actually costs a hundred pennies to open your mouth!
What is the concept of a hundred guan? A guan is a thousand standard coins. The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period was a troubled time, and the purchasing power of a guan was much less than that of the Tang Dynasty. During the Zhenguan period of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, material civilization was extremely rich.
A dou of rice is only sold for five cents. Regular money can buy two hundred dou of rice. Ten dou of rice is equivalent to one stone. In the Tang Dynasty, one stone was about fifty-nine kilograms. Regular money can buy twenty shi of rice, which is almost equivalent according to the price of rice in modern society.
Around RMB 4,000.
Nowadays, the Northern Han Dynasty is poor and it is a year of disaster. The price of rice is almost eighty or nine times what it was during the Zhenguan period of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty. A bucket of rice costs about forty-five cents. Even so, if the traditional money is converted into RMB, it is almost five cents.
About 100 yuan. One hundred guan, that’s nearly 50,000 yuan!
Smashing a wooden box will result in a fine of RMB 50,000.
Liu Ling said the price was fair, which shows that officials are shady.
Hanasaburo said with a silly smile: "It's so good, so good. If ten people smash the box, it's worth a thousand guan. If a hundred people smash the box, it's 10,000 guan! Your lord,
Otherwise, let's make a thousand boxes, and if they are all smashed, hehe... Sui Gong of the Liao Kingdom basically doesn't have to worry."
Zhao Erdao: "This is a wonderful method. My lord, I think it works. You can order this to be done in all the twelve states of Han Dynasty. In that case, haha... the wealth will be rolling in!"
Liu Ling smiled and said: "You two should change your names, one is called Hua Papi and the other is called Zhao Papi."
Hanasaburo and Zhao Er thought to themselves, well, then you are Liu Bapi... or the leader of the Bapi team.
The three of them walked while talking, and every time they passed a collection point, they saw almost the same situation. Several government officials guarding the donation boxes stood listlessly, and one of the government officials at one collection point even ran to a tea stall not far away.
Went to drink tea. Hanasaburo sighed as he walked, and kept saying that it was more practical to place boxes at the door of rich households. At this rate, I am afraid that even the envoys from the Liao Kingdom would not be able to raise enough money.
Zhao Er said: "Your Majesty, let's not look at it. The more we look at it, the more disturbing it becomes."
Liu Ling smiled lightly and said, "What you see chills your heart, but what I see makes me satisfied."
Hanasaburo asked in surprise: "Is there anything worthy of satisfaction? Why can't my subordinates see it?"
Liu Ling pointed to a place not far from the collection point and said, "Look there."
Zhao Er and Hanasaburo followed Liu Ling's instructions and looked over. They saw dozens of people gathered in that place, pointing at the donation box. Such small groups of onlookers were not limited to this place. They were at the edge of a big willow tree.
There was a group of people below talking about something with their heads lowered. The two of them looked around and found that there were hundreds of people around a hundred meters away from this collection point.
Liu Ling said: "Did you see it?"
Zhao Er said: "I saw it, but even if these people standing there all their lives, they are useless."
Liu Ling laughed and said: "Zhao Er, you need to look deeper at the problem. As we walked along, there were people like this at every collection point. These people actually wanted to donate, but no one wanted to go.
Be the one who stands out. To put it bluntly, as Wen Zou Zou said, a tree that is as beautiful as the forest wind will destroy it, which means the same thing. Whoever is the first to stand up and donate money will probably become the target of public criticism immediately!"
He smiled and said: "Actually, there is no stupid person among the people. They all have a clear mind about the current situation of the Han Dynasty. Let me use an analogy so that you can understand better."
Liu Ling said: "Zhao Er, for example, you raise a large group of sheep. You drive the sheep out to graze. At this time, a ditch appears in front of you. This ditch is not big, and you can only jump over this ditch.
Only then can we go to the opposite side to eat fresh grass. At this time, the sheep stopped in front of the ditch and dared not go over. What should you do?"
Zhao Er thought for a while and said, "Then drive the sheep over there!"
Hanasaburo said: "If you drive the sheep away, the sheep may run away. It's better to use a wooden stick to pick up some fresh grass, and then put it in front of the head sheep to lure it. The sheep will follow the stick in order to eat the food and will jump over it.
It's a ditch. As long as the first sheep passes by, it is estimated that all the other sheep will follow."
Liu Ling laughed and said, "Sanlang is a wonderful person!"
Zhao Er scratched his hair and said: "It's just a trick, I actually thought of it. But what does this have to do with the people watching?"
Hanasaburo glanced at Zhao Er with an idiot look, which made Zhao Er very depressed. He subconsciously glanced at Liu Ling, who smiled without saying a word and walked forward with his hands behind his back.
Zhao Er walked out thirty or forty meters away, suddenly realized something, slapped his forehead and said: "I understand!"
Liu Ling and the other three continued to walk forward. In many places, people gathered in the distance and pointed at the collection points and discussed. Some people said is it useful? Someone immediately said that it is definitely useless. We ordinary people don't have enough to eat.
How much money can we donate? The few pennies we donated will not make any difference at all.
Another person said: "That's not what they say. A little adds up. If we all donate, even if each person only donates one penny, it will add up to a lot of wealth!"
Then someone laughed at him and said, "Your family has a lot of money, so go donate it! I won't take advantage of you anyway. If I have money, I will cut off a piece of fat meat for my mother to stew in soup to drink to replenish my health."
These words resonated with many people and they all nodded.
Liu Ling watched and listened without speaking.
At this time, we were not far from the last collection point. This collection point was the most remote and was actually set up at the intersection of a small alley. Very few people passed by this place, so there were no people watching. It was probably guarded.
Several government officials found it embarrassing, so they simply placed it in a remote place. But at this collection point, Liu Ling's eyes suddenly lit up!
At this collection point, someone is actually donating money! The person donating is very special, she is a woman who looks to be no more than 20 years old. This woman is wearing a snow-white dress, graceful and looks very beautiful. She has black hair.
The waterfall-like hair hangs down on the back of the head, and a breeze blows through the hair and gently ruffles it.
She took a sachet embroidered with mandarin ducks from the hands of a little girl in red clothes beside her, took out all the copper coins and a few pieces of silver, pondered for a while and threw them all into the donation box!
When Liu Ling saw this woman, his eyes suddenly narrowed into slits! He knew this woman!
It turned out to be Chen Ziyu who fell in love with the same golden hairpin as Liu Meier that day! (To be continued)
