Li Hong and Yan Lingbin slowly walked out of the carriage. Although they were used to life in the East Palace and even the palace, they were still not used to seeing people salute as soon as they got off the carriage.
She watched several court officials salute the prince in unison. The officials behind her, who were considered high-ranking officials in her eyes, were obedient. They didn't even have the right to speak at this time and could only follow other officials. With a smile on his face, he echoed the chatter and laughter of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the other two officials as if he was enjoying himself.
Although he was once well-known as an oiran and was the focus of attention for literati and refined scholars, but compared with the pomp in front of him, Yan Lingbin deeply realized how big the gap between power and reputation was.
I originally thought that the people I had met before were all in this world, but I never thought that one day I would be able to stand with these people, and not even as an escort.
Yan Lingbin, Zhang Lushui, and Jin Rongqi nodded to each other, and they were considered acquaintances. The three of them followed Li Hong, listening to the two important officials of the Tang Dynasty explaining everything about Prince Wu's Mansion to His Highness the Crown Prince.
The front and back yards of Prince Wu's Mansion, which occupies a quarter of an area, were in ruins. The gardens and leisure areas originally built in the early years were all burned to the ground by a fire.
After walking around Prince Wu's Mansion, Li Hong asked calmly: "Has the Criminal Department finalized the case? Or is the Jingzhao Mansion responsible for this matter?"
Although Fang Xianzhong knew that His Highness the Crown Prince was asking questions knowingly, he still had to accompany the Crown Prince to play out the scene in front of many officials, so he stepped forward and said: "Back to Your Highness, Jingzhao Mansion was the first to rush to the scene on the day of the incident." When we arrived, it was the people from Jingzhao Mansion who found out the cause of the fire, so the Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple did not take action on the matter. "
"Oh, have you found out? What's going on?" Li Hong glanced at Fang Xianzhong and asked.
"This... Your Highness, Mr. Zong Chuke, the chief official of Jingzhao Mansion, will be here soon. How about I report to you again? I am the Minister of the Ministry of Industry..."
"Okay, I'll listen to you. How's your decision going, General? It's not convenient to meet in the palace. Now I've brought you the person. You can tell me in detail how to rebuild on these ruins. Let’s talk about it.”
The general supervisor then hurriedly stepped forward, took out several scrolls, and opened them one by one with the help of other officials. Zhang Lushui and Jin Rongqi were also led to the drawings by Yan Lingbin.
They are the official offices in charge of palaces and palace buildings, the production of gold, jade, pearls, jade, rhinoceros and elephant treasure vessels, and the embroidery of gauze and satin, and other unusual utensils.
Therefore, if Li Hong wants to build a mansion for Zhang Lushui and Jin Rongqi according to his father's wishes, and a leisure palace for his father, he must go through the supervision and work departments to implement it.
Yan Lingbin's role became apparent at this time. He had lived among the people and visited the homes of many high-ranking officials and nobles. Moreover, he was now a member of the East Palace. Although he had no experience in architecture, his unique vision could be seen. Give some advice to Zhang Lushui and Jin Rongqi.
Li Hong was not very concerned about this matter. All he had to do was make arrangements for the construction of this ruins after the spring before his father came back.
Anyway, it’s all demolition. After a fire, it will be more thorough, and we can just rebuild it. In this way, I am afraid my father will be happy.
Zong Chuke ran over in a short time, out of breath. After saluting, he said out of breath: "Your Highness, please forgive me, I'm late."
Li Hong frowned: "What are you busy with today? Where were you this morning?"
"I haven't been in Chang'an these days. I've been to surrounding counties. Alas... It's hard to explain in words." Zong Chuke shook his head and sighed. It seemed that he had encountered some difficulty.
"Tell me, what's going on?" Li Hong was very curious, watching the three women discussing endlessly around the general, then he sat on the carriage shaft and looked at Zong Chuke who was sweating profusely and asked. .
"Alas, Your Highness, there is not enough food to eat in Chang'an now. The food output has been greatly reduced in the past two years. Because of this matter, I have negotiated with Sinong Temple many times, but no progress has been made. Nowadays, the people have begun to stop farming. The grain is only grown in cotton. Because the demand for cotton by the generals, Sinong Temple, and traders is too high, the price of cotton is rising. In order to make money, the people have abandoned the land and are waiting to plant cotton next year. "I have gone to the farmland to inspect the fields these past two days, but I can't see any green crops. If this continues, in another two years, I am afraid that all the food returned to Luocang will be empty." Zong Chuke frowned, originally thinking. Growing cotton is a good thing, but unexpectedly, in order to make more money, people now simply leave the land uncultivated after the cotton harvest, without any intention of planting crops for next year.
Faced with the current shortage of food in Chang'an and Guanzhong areas, Sinong Temple did not pay attention to it. Instead, it encouraged people to grow cotton and abandon food, hoping to purchase more cotton in the coming year.
Li Hong sat on the shaft of the cart, dangling his legs, and asked strangely: "Wouldn't it be better to plant other crops after the cotton is harvested? Hasn't this already started?"
"What His Highness said is true, but the demand is high and prices are rising. People in Zhou County, Chang'an, now only need to plant cotton for one season. If they want to plant grain again, they are stopped by Sinong Temple, saying they are afraid of asking for land once a year." Once the cotton is harvested, God will be displeased. Just like the year before, God will be angry. When the time comes to harvest the cotton, it has not yet fully matured, delaying the planting of grain. So it is spread that God deliberately punishes the people because of their greed. People, stop them from growing food.”
"Nonsense, that's because the cotton harvest was delayed a few days due to continuous rain, but it doesn't mean that the grain planting season has been missed." Li Hong naturally knew that the demand for cotton was increasing year by year. When he went to Anxi, he had already A large number of plantings were promoted, and the cotton originally came from there. Now the continued promotion of planting has alleviated the shortage of cotton in Guanzhong.
But I didn’t expect that there is still such a shortage of cotton. Is this consistent with common sense? Or is it that someone is deliberately hoarding cotton and waiting to sell it at a high price? Or, does anyone have too much food at home? Sinong Temple helps its warehouses to sell grain at a higher price by reducing the amount of grain grown
But no matter which one, it is not as hateful and annoying as Sinong Temple's ban on people growing crops. He thought about it and said: "Unless the gods are alive at this time, no, even if the gods are alive, they can't make green seedlings grow in the fields. Since the loss After a season, forget it. When His Majesty returns to the court, we will raise it in the court now and then we will talk about it."
"Yes, Your Highness, that's all we can do for now." Zong Chuke wiped his forehead and shook his head and said sadly.
"It's just that the general will need a lot of cotton. Why does Sinong Temple stop growing grain? Is it because he will be the prison?" Li Hong asked curiously.
"This... I haven't found out clearly yet, but I think it's for political achievements. After all, growing grain is not as good as growing cotton for political achievements. Moreover, when the Cui family of Qinghe had a famine in Luoyang and Chang'an this year, they had a bumper harvest of grain. I thought there must be some hidden secret."
"Qinghe Cui family? Are you sure?" Li Hong was shocked. Although Zong Chuke had already said it very implicitly, he still felt that Li Xian's shadow was probably indispensable.
"I'm not sure, but it's 70% to 80% certain. I've sent people to Qinghe to check. In addition to renting mediocre food, it is said that the people's granaries are overflowing. There is so much food..."
"This is a strange thing. When the Tang Dynasty still has enough food to eat?" Li Hong murmured.
He believed what Zong Chuke said, and he even believed that the Tang Dynasty was at its peak at this time. At this period in history, the food of the Tang Dynasty was already sufficient. Huiluocang was full all year round, and the food was always inexhaustible.
"When there was a disaster in Yunzhong, Qinghe once made a lot of money. You don't know who got an advantage in it. Then you and your majesty conquered Liaodong. At that time, Liyangcang was forced to leave grain in secret, and it was also The high-priced grain bought from Qinghe quickly filled up the Liyang warehouse. Otherwise, food would be a problem for you and your Majesty to conquer Liaodong." Zong Chuke looked around and no one was paying attention. He took two steps forward and whispered. said.
"Continue to investigate. It's best to find out before the first day of the year! Don't alert others."
"Don't worry, I have been secretly investigating, so no one has ever discovered it. Originally, I didn't plan to tell you, but there is really nothing I can do today. Before the first day of the year, I am afraid that I will need to open the warehouse once more to release grain. There are several stores in the surrounding area. In this county, the people are now in a situation where they have money but no food. If they want to buy food, they have to pay a high price, so I went over to mediate the matter."
Li Hong nodded. No wonder he didn't know at all. Zong Chuke had hidden it well enough: "How are you going to get the discount here?" Li Hong raised his head and pointed to the ruins in the distance with his chin, and asked.
"The weather was dry and things were in disrepair. It was caused by a fire unintentionally. By the time we found out it was too late, I was guilty." Zong Chuke had already thought about how to rescue Li Xian and said calmly.
"Okay, I hope my father won't doubt this news. In fact, doubting is useless. What about the people who set the fire that night?"
"I have been secretly detained by my ministers and will not be discovered. Moreover, I have already recorded my confession. I am not afraid of anyone betraying me." The person Zong Chuke said obviously did not refer to the arsonists, but to King Li Xian of Pei. If If the prince reconciles with the prince, the arsonists and the confessions will not come to light. However, if King Pei Li Xian falls out with the prince, the arsonists and the confessions will be ironclad evidence that King Pei ordered the arson.
The two of them had just finished talking when they saw Yan Lingbin leading Zhang Lushui and Jin Rongqi slowly walking over. From the expressions of the two women, it could be seen that the two of them were quite satisfied with the new palace garden designed by the supervisor. In addition, Yan Lingbin added some of his own opinions to help the two improve the details from a female perspective, so everything was still very satisfactory to the two.
Fang Xianzhong, Zong Chuke, and the general supervisor stood in front of Li Hong. Li Hong looked at the three of them and said calmly: "The general supervisor will finalize the plan as soon as possible and hand it over to the Ministry of Works after the first day, whether it is The manpower, material resources, and financial resources were all provided by the Ministry of Industry. As the prince of the Tang Dynasty, he was also the minister of the Ministry of Finance and the governor of Jingzhao, so it was natural for him to contribute money to build it in order to honor his father. "
"But... Your Highness, the Ministry of Industry..." Fang Xianzhong suddenly turned pale. Unknowingly, he found that he had been tricked by the prince!
But Li Hong didn't give him a chance to explain at all, and said to Zong Chuke calmly: "Send the two of them back to the palace. I have something else to do and have to go to Chang'an."
(End of chapter)