Liu Fan stood in front of the palace gate and saw Li Mingyu running out.
He didn't see Liu Fan, or he didn't look around at all.
He seemed very angry and didn't seem to care. First he put his hands behind his hands and walked away. When the personal guards came to greet him, he complained excitedly to the people around him, but then he quickly took the riding crop, swung it back and forth in his hand, and then
The naughtiness of youth was restored.
A white horse was brought over, and a soldier squatted down in front of the horse. Li Mingyu stepped on the soldier and got on the horse, and galloped under the protection of many soldiers. On the street, officials and militiamen all gave way to the horse.
The young governor was so angry that Liu Fan stood outside the palace gate and watched him off.
"Have Mr. Liu met Governor Li? You should know him, right?" the palace clerk asked, smiling without waiting for an answer, "I must know him. This time Mrs. Chu regained the capital with the help of soldiers and horses from Jiannan Road."
Liu Fan looked at the smile on the young official's face, and his smile had a special meaning.
He knows what he is laughing at.
"Not only did Madam receive help from Jiannan Road," Liu Fandao said, "Director Li also received help from Madam."
The clerk was stunned for a moment, a little confused.
"At that time, when Governor Xiang was besieged by the rebels, Governor Li came with his troops to relieve the situation. Do you all know this?" Liu Fandao.
The clerk nodded, and everyone knew it, and Governor Li became famous in one fell swoop.
Liu Fandao: "That was Mrs. Chu who personally wrote a letter instructing Governor Li to go."
After saying that, he rolled up his sleeves and walked away.
The clerk looked shocked at the back. It was Mrs. Chu who pointed it out? Mrs. Chu turned out to be friends with Governor Li in addition to Han Xu?
Oh my God, Governor Li is still a child.
Mrs. Chu Guo is really... amazing.
The clerk came back to his senses and looked at Liu Fan's back and waved hurriedly: "Mr. Liu, don't you want to wait any longer? I'll tell you when the prime minister is not busy anymore."
Liu Fan didn't look back and waved his hand, not sure whether to say yes or no.
After withdrawing from the emperor, he went directly to see Cui Zheng, but was stopped. Cui Zheng was busy. He waited for a while and Cui Zheng didn't see him, so he had to leave.
There was no need to wait any longer, because when he was notified, he said he wanted to ask about his return to Beijing. When the visitor came out, he said that the prime minister was busy and would see him again when he was done.
It was obvious that Cui Zheng didn't want to see him now, nor did he want to talk about returning to Beijing.
Liu Fan stopped and looked back at the Lu Palace. There were many guards outside the palace gate and many officials coming in and out. In order not to disturb the people and to get close to his ministers, the emperor's daily official offices were set up in the palace, which was busy and noisy.
Liu Fan frowned. After arriving in Linzhou, it was different from what he imagined. The imperial court's reaction was not to immediately break camp and return to Beijing. Of course, returning to Beijing was not just a matter of time. There were many things to arrange, but the entire Linzhou and the entire imperial court had to do it.
It's moving.
The imperial court is very concerned about the affairs of the capital. Those gentlemen are invited every day. After the emperor has finished meeting, the officials meet one after another without interruption. But what they talk about is the past. He is the envoy of the Lady of Chu.
No one paid attention to it. He obviously knew the key person in the current affairs in the capital.
Moreover, Liu Fan raised his head and looked at the sky. When talking about the past of the capital, he was not inferior to these gentlemen. Although he was not from the capital, he went out to study at the age of thirteen and came to the capital and grew up until he was thirty-three.
When he was 20 years old, he had watched the prosperous times in the capital for twenty years. Being in the city, he knew the changes in the past and present in more detail.
But it’s not too late to reminisce about the past when we return to the capital. The most important thing is the present and the future.
Now it seems that there is movement, but the movement is to discuss whether we should leave...
Cui Zheng controls the court, the generals and governors who control the troops have their own agendas, Li Mingyu is domineering, Xiang Yun is conniving...
The emperor cannot make the decision, should he return to Beijing?
"Watch the road!"
There was a voice shouting in his ears, and Liu Fan was hit hard on the shoulder. When he came back to his senses, he saw several people carrying sacks rushing into a shop...
He was distracted and found that he had reached a busy street. The market in Linzhou was more prosperous than in the capital, and there were people everywhere. Liu Fan apologized and looked up. This was a grain shop.
People on the street are also pointing and pointing, "The Du family's shop has so much grain." "Is the rice grain going to be cheaper?" "With so much rice grain, won't the Du family return to the capital?" "Maybe it's because of the need.
We only bought grain to sell after we returned to Beijing. Everyone has to sell grain and take it with them to eat on the road." Liu Fan listened to all kinds of speculation and sizing up, and noticed another detail.
"Why are the rice grains transported by people?" He couldn't help but ask the people around him. The bags of rice grains were not unloaded in front of the door by carts and horses, but by strong men carrying them along the street. He stood on tiptoe to look at them.
Go, the team carrying food is coming from the direction of the city gate...
Doesn't this house have carriages and horses? It's unlikely. It's strange.
"Cars and horses are valuable." The people nearby thought his question was strange, "There is no value in numbers, so of course we use people to transport goods."
People are worthless! Liu Fan was shocked.
"Have you just come to our Linzhou?" Someone next to him looked at his expression and explained with a smile: "The carriages and horses are very tired after transporting goods for a long distance. If you want to rest and recuperate, just come from the city gate to the store. There are so many people to support.
It's just for work."
"Besides, the food for livestock is so expensive." Someone else laughed and said, "A mouthful of food for a person is worthless."
"At this time, if horses and carts are used to escape, what can people do?"
"How many people can a person hump? How far can he run?"
There was more joking around him, and Liu Fan stopped asking. He walked past the door of the shop. On the other side, there were several men dressed as shopkeepers, watching the food being transported, while talking and laughing in low voices. There were people nearby who crowded over to laugh and please.
He asked how much grain he could buy. After asking several times, a shopkeeper looked at him and said, "There is not much grain left." "Each person is limited to five dou." "One dou costs ten dollars."
Liu Fan, who originally walked over, looked back in shock again. It was too high!
"Food prices are too high." He couldn't help but ask, "Does the government not care?"
The people nearby who were watching the fun with their hands laughed when they heard it: "What the hell? The grain belongs to the Du family, and the government does not sell grain."
But the government must control food prices, otherwise wouldn’t it be chaos?
The people looked at him like a fool: "Aren't these troubled times?"
It is because the world is in trouble that we need to govern the world more. Liu Fan looked at the people and opened his mouth but finally did not say. This was not for the people. He withdrew his eyes and continued walking along the market.
But this time Liu Fan did not think about the Emperor Cui Zheng and the generals. Instead, he looked at the people passing by on the street, walked into the shop to ask about the price, said a few words to the idlers squatting on the street, and saw the people lying outside the city gate.
Beggar, he bought a piece of cake and handed it over...
The beggar was an old woman with two children in her arms. She took the cake with great gratitude and gave it to the two children. The two children were so hungry that they had no strength to chew, so the old woman chewed it up and fed it herself.
them.....
"Why don't you go eat relief porridge?" Liu Fan asked with a sigh.
Although he didn't see it from the city gate, when he was walking on the road, he saw a porridge shelter.
The old woman said: "I can't eat it."
Liu Fan asked: "Is it because there are too many people to grab it?"
The old woman smiled bitterly: "I am not qualified to eat it."
Porridge is specially provided for people who have no food to eat. How come they are not qualified to eat? Liu Fan doesn't understand.
"Those porridges are all created by rich people." The old woman fed the children a few mouthfuls, and the children gained strength and wolfed them down by themselves. "There is no free meal. If you eat other people's food, you have to do it for them."
Living, young and strong people want it, but old, weak and young people like me don’t want it.”
Liu Fan was furious: "Is this called giving out porridge? This is called slavery! Doesn't the government care?"
The old woman was startled by his anger: "Why does the government care about this? The government's porridge expenses were also raised from wealthy families. Later, the rich people said that they came to provide porridge and feed the refugees for the government.
This is something that everyone is happy about.”
The government does not have to worry about the refugees being resettled, and the refugees do not have to worry about being displaced when they become slaves of others. They have food, drink and shelter. This is such a good thing.
Liu Fan explained it as simply as possible: "But domestic servants are of no use to the imperial city. In today's troubled times, the government and the imperial city need manpower, such as building defenses..."
The old woman understood, interrupted him, and said: "You're talking about this, I understand, these are also done by wealthy people. They took them from the government and arranged for people to do them. The government doesn't have to worry about food and drink.
The government can also save worry and trouble."
Liu Fan became even more angry, but seeing the puzzled expression on the old woman's face, he swallowed back what he was about to say.
The old woman saw that he was wearing a green shirt and described him as skinny: "You are here to find a way to survive, too." The scholar did not want to be a slave, "Don't worry, you can read and write, you don't have to sell yourself as a slave, you can be a teacher in the accounting room."
Anything is fine."
Liu Fan took a deep breath and looked at the old woman and the two children in her arms: "How can the old, weak, young and useless survive?"
"We went and had a sip of hot soup." The old woman licked her lips, "We can drink it in one day."
It's just that the soup is clearer and the porridge is less rice than the one you drink when you become a rich man's slave, and you can barely survive.
"Scholar, go quickly. Find a rich family to depend on, and you can follow me back to the capital." The old woman said with an envious look, "The road in the capital is not easy, and you can't do it on your own."
It’s not possible to rely on the government either.
You can only rely on powerful wealthy families.
Liu Fan looked around, thinking that the wealthy families could take advantage of this opportunity to keep slaves in large numbers. He touched his body, but in the end he did not take out any money. What use would one or two dollars have to an old woman and a child?
Liu Fan glanced at the two children who had finished eating the pancakes. There was no hope on their faces, only blankness.
He got up and left the city gate and walked outside the city. There were many buildings outside the city, and there were people and markets everywhere. The bustling life was boundless, but in Liu Fan's eyes at this moment, this prosperity was vain.
Rootless...
...
...
A few days later, Cui Zheng remembered Liu Fan.
"Has this scholar not been here for several days?" he asked, "Has he been obsessed with Your Majesty?"
The official said: "No, he didn't come back after leaving that day. He lived outside the palace and never came back to the palace."
Cui Zheng was a little curious: "Then what is he doing?"
The officials sent people to inquire. Although Cui Zheng didn't care about the scholar, he was the envoy of Mrs. Chu after all, so he sent someone to investigate and asked quickly.
I didn't do much, just wandered around the city and outside the city every day, eating and drinking, and watching people outside the city farming.
"Are you going to make friends with those wealthy businessmen?" Cui Zheng asked the key as soon as he heard this.
After all, he is the envoy of Mrs. Chu, and there must be many rich and powerful people paying attention to him.
The official shook his head: "Many people came to invite him, but he refused them all. He just wandered around and brought food and drink with him."
It's weird, maybe it's just to kill time.
"Is there anything wrong with this Liu Fan?" the official asked, "Did Mrs. Chu have any other intention in sending him here?"
Cui Zheng shook his head: "No problem. Looking at Liu Fan, we can see that Mrs. Chu is eagerly looking forward to His Majesty's return to Beijing."
The official smiled and said: "Of course. If Your Majesty does not return to the capital, her great achievements in regaining the capital will be like walking in brocade at night."
Cui Zheng hummed: "That's why some people don't want His Majesty to return to Beijing."
The official was a little angry: "This is all caused by Li Mingyu."