Early in the morning, Li Mu was having breakfast when the porter came to report that someone from the palace was coming. He was waiting in the lobby. Li Mu quickly pulled a bowl of porridge, wiped his mouth, and came to the lobby in the front yard.
"Eunuch Gao?" Seeing the person coming, Li Mu was startled and said, "Eunuch Gao, why are you here so early? Is there anything urgent?"
With a smile on his face, Eunuch Gao said: "Don't panic, Lord Zhulu, there is nothing urgent. Our family is here today to deliver clothes to Lord Marquis." As he spoke, Eunuch Gao clapped his hands, and the little eunuch behind him quickly carried the tray.
Arriving in front of him, Eunuch Gao straightened his expression and said solemnly: "Marquis Zhulu, listen to the edict."
Li Mu quickly bowed, and Eunuch Gao imitated Li Shimin's demeanor and said as loudly as possible: "Your Majesty said: Li Mu, you are a brat who has not been in court even once after being promoted. Although there are reasons for everything, it is inevitable that it will attract criticism.
You made a court robe and wear it to attend the court meeting tomorrow, you must have it!"
After finishing speaking, Eunuch Gao immediately put on a smile and said: "What we said are His Majesty's exact words, every word is correct. Zhuluhou, do you know what His Majesty meant?"
"Uh..." Li Mu didn't react, but he knew what to do. With a flick of his wrist, he handed over a piece of silver without leaving any trace.
Eunuch Gao put it into his sleeve with a smile on his face and said: "Master Hou, someone has filed a lawsuit against you. Do you still remember what memorials were submitted two days ago?"
"Memorial?" Li Mu thought about it. He had submitted two memorials in the past few days. One was to recommend officials from the Ministry of Industry, and the other was to recommend Tang Guan as a "imperialist". The former had already communicated with Li Shimin.
, there should be no problem, then the problem must be with Tang Guan's memorial. It seems that someone was jealous of Tang Guan and did not dare to offend his father, Tang Jian, so he pointed the finger at himself.
Li Mu understood, raised his hand to Eunuch Gao, and said, "Thank you very much, Eunuch Gao, for your advice. I have a good idea."
Eunuch Gao still had a smile on his face. He knew in his heart that this kind of impeachment was irrelevant to Li Mu and he didn't take it seriously at all.
"Master Marquis, it is not often that you are given a court uniform, which shows your Majesty's favor towards you. There is one more thing. If our family doesn't tell us, I'm afraid the Marquis won't know about it. Does the Marquis know who made this set of court uniforms?
"
"This...how can I know."
Gao Gongzheng said: "This set of court clothes was sewn by the queen herself."
"Ah?!" Li Mu said in surprise: "It was actually sewn by the Queen herself?" Li Mu quickly bowed in the direction of Tai Chi Palace and shouted: "How could Li Mu be so virtuous? He could be so loved and cared for by His Majesty and the Queen. I can't believe it."
I can only repay Long's kindness by dedicating myself to death and completing everything His Majesty has asked me to do!"
In fact, he had just guessed that this section was just to coordinate with Eunuch Gao's performance. He knew that Eunuch Gao would reply to Li Shimin and Queen Changsun after he returned. He said this to make it easier for him to explain, and also to make Li Shimin and Queen Changsun feel happy.
Comfortable.
How could Eunuch Gao not see Li Mu's little thoughts, pretending to be confused and pretending not to know.
"Our family will pass on the heart of Zhuluhou Quanquan to His Majesty. Well, our family's affairs are finished, and we have to return to the palace to return the order, so I won't bother you anymore, so I'll leave now."
Li Mu arrived at the door and glanced at the concierge. The concierge hurried to the warehouse and asked someone to bring two jars of Zhuangyuanhong. Eunuch Gao was helped by the young eunuch into the carriage. Li Mu handed over the two jars of wine and said: "Today
I have made a new wine and there are two jars left. I would like to ask my father-in-law to hand it over to His Majesty and the Supreme Emperor for tasting."
"Our family will live up to its trust."
Eunuch Gao put the wine beside him, held it with his hand, said goodbye to Li Mu, and returned to the palace.
Li Mu returned to the lobby, picked up the court dress that was said to have been sewn by Empress Changsun herself, and looked at it carefully. I have to say that the stitching was indeed very good. It was really impressive that the empress had such accomplishments in the field of female prostitutes.
After the founding of the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan issued an edict stipulating the color of the uniforms of all officials. Princes up to the third rank should be made of purple large silk silk, and their belts should be made of jade belt hooks. The fifth and higher ranks should be made of crimson small silk silk, and their belts should be made of grass gold hooks.
The belt is made of yellow double silk damask, and the belt is made of rhinoceros hooks. The seventh grade is made of green tortoise shell, double giant, and ten-flower damask, and the belt is silver. The ninth grade is made of cyan silk cloth and mixed damask, and the belt is made of jade stone hooks.
In terms of official positions, Li Mu was the minister of the Ministry of Industry, a fourth-rank official, and could only wear crimson official uniforms. However, because he was a third-rank founding county magistrate, he just happened to have a purple skirt. Therefore, Empress Changsun sewed it for him.
This court dress is purple, and specially uses gold thread. Although it is not obvious if you don’t look closely, it is a low-key show off. It’s fine if others don’t notice the gold thread. As long as they find the gold thread, they will know it.
This piece of clothing came from the palace.
What an honor it is to be given imperial robes?
Li Mu returned to the backyard with the tray and showed it to Bai Qiaoqiao. Bai Qiaoqiao was also very happy. She carefully looked at the stitching of the clothes and envied the queen's female beauty. Zhang Tianai could not see anything, she had never touched it in her life.
She can't tell whether the needlework is good or not.
After chatting for a while, the concierge came again, and Lu Wenfeng, a doctor from the Yu Department, arrived. Lu Wenfeng had sorted out the information Li Mu wanted yesterday and planned to send someone to deliver it, but he was worried that Li Mu had questions to ask, so he sent it himself.
come over.
When we met in the lobby, Li Mu first took a look at what Lu Wenfeng had compiled. But unfortunately, he didn't understand it. Due to the changes in place names in ancient and modern times, even though Lu Wenfeng had written very clearly, where are the iron mines and where are the iron mines?
There are copper mines and silver mines, but Li Mu doesn't know where these are. Li Mu had to ask one place at a time, using Chang'an as the coordinates, which direction of Chang'an is it, how far away is it, and then remember it in his mind and memory.
I remember the map of China’s mineral distribution that I studied in junior high school geography. After a long time, I couldn’t even match a few names.
This gave Li Mu a little headache.
There was really no choice but to put the prospecting matter aside for now. Li Mu put aside the information in his hand and asked a key question: "Mr. Lu, are the various minerals in Datang now state-owned or privately owned?"
"The minerals are all state-owned, but the minerals are spread all over the country, and mining still requires the cooperation of the people in local and state capitals. The specific implementation plan is that salt and iron will be government-run, and the rest will be mined by personnel organized by state governments and taxed by the court."
"Alas!" Li Mu let out a long sigh. The most troublesome thing still happened. Although he had thought of this a long time ago, he still kept his luck in mind. Now that his hope was shattered, his head started to hurt all of a sudden.
If these minerals are all state-owned, Li Mu, as the minister of the Ministry of Industry, can naturally allocate them with full authority. There is no restriction on how to do it, and it can be regarded as almost no cost. Although it will definitely be difficult at the beginning, as long as it is on track, it will be easy in the future.
It's a flat river.
But now it seems that the court's control over local areas is far lower than Li Mu imagined. Although Lu Wenfeng said it euphemistically, his meaning has been made clear. All minerals belong to the state, but the state wants to mine them.
, local cooperation is indispensable. What is local? Is it the local officials? Is it the local people? Obviously neither, the word "local" refers to a wealthy family.
Li Mu can now understand why Li Shimin is afraid of wealthy families. Just imagine, although the country's surname is Li, the talents are in the hands of the wealthy families, the land is in the hands of the wealthy families, and the population is in the hands of the wealthy families. Even the minerals are in the hands of the wealthy families.
It belongs to the imperial court, but in fact it is still in the hands of a wealthy family. If you are not afraid of this, then it must be that the emperor is a fool.
Fortunately, these aristocratic families also restrained each other and fought openly and secretly. Otherwise, if they joined forces, the rebellion would probably be successful. Thinking of this, Li Mu suddenly smiled bitterly. What kind of prediction could it be? It could happen. There was great chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty.
When all the heroes rise up, don't these "heroes" refer to the clans from all over the world? Some, like Li Tang, rise up on their own, while others support them from behind. The so-called competition in the world is the war between these clans!
Li Mu picked up the information compiled by Lu Wenfeng and took a look at it. Suddenly he found a problem and said: "Mr. Lu, how come there is no distribution of coal mines in the information you compiled?"
"Ah, sir, coal and stone are not considered mines, so there is no record."
"Coal is not considered a mine?" This was the first time Li Mu heard this saying, and asked: "How can coal be considered not a mine?"
"Sir, didn't the official explain it to you yesterday? Coal and stone are everywhere, more or less, it's not uncommon. And unless it is made into iron, few people use it, and it has no value. How can it be regarded as a mineral?
"
"You..." Li Mu looked at Lu Wenfeng and wanted to say something, but suddenly sighed and said nothing. Lu Wenfeng's deep-rooted concept would be difficult for him to change in a short while. Unless he was allowed to change it,
He saw the usefulness of coal, otherwise it would definitely not be possible just by talking about it.
"Yesterday you said there was a place full of coal pits and valleys. What was that place called?"
"Sir, this is Shuozhou, north of Taiyuan."
Li Mu wrote down the name of the place and said to Lu Wenfeng: "Go back and search as much as you can to see if there are any places like Shuozhou where there is coal directly on the ground without digging. If you find it, tell me immediately. I have a lot of coal."
use."
Lu Wenfeng couldn't bear it anymore and said: "Sir, coal and stone really cannot be used for heating. It will kill people. I'm not an alarmist! I've seen it with my own eyes!"
Li Mu explained helplessly: "I know that coal and stone heating will kill people, but that is not the fault of the coal and stone, but the way of using it is not appropriate. I have developed a new method of using coal and stone for heating. I use my
The method of using coal and stone can avoid the risk of poisoning. In this way, can coal be put to great use? That’s why I am looking for coal. Isn’t it a great thing to keep people warm through the winter?
What?"
When Lu Wenfeng heard what Li Mu said, he was a little stunned. He didn't believe it but didn't dare to say it. It took him a long time to say: "If it is true as your Excellency said, it is indeed a good thing. But coal poisoning is not a child's play. Your Excellency,