Li Dan is now the self-proclaimed Imperial College Jijiujiu, as well as the Grand Bachelor of Hongwen Hall and Chongwen Hall. Three literati have unattainable titles, which he has given himself here and there at will.
Even at many times, especially during the stumbling creation of the steam engine, Li Dan even asked for more blank seals from the Ministry of Officials, and then found Zhongshu Menxia and Li Hong to ask them to write blank seals. He stamped his seal on the book, and then began to lavishly award titles to many craftsmen in Taiyi City who worked with him to develop steam engines.
As a result, today, there are not even one thousand but eight hundred craftsmen in Taiyi City who are bachelors of the Imperial College, Hongwen Hall, and Chongwen Hall, and the number is even increasing this year.
However, due to the criticism and protests of Li Zhi, Wu Mei, and other Confucian sages, in the second half of this year, the King of Yin was somewhat controlled from such crazy granting of titles, but even so, Li Dan still went his own way and continued to look for him The emperor of the Tang Dynasty, the emperor's brother, worked tirelessly to find vacant bachelors, and was always ready to grant one to anyone who liked it.
But having said that, even though Li Zhi and Wu Mei, including the Imperial College, Hongwen Hall, Chongwen Hall and others opposed it, Li Dan had an emperor of the Tang Dynasty supporting him behind his back, so there was another idle prince of the Tang Dynasty. Li Dan, King of Yin, just like Li Zhe, brother of the Seven Emperors, holds power in his hands that is extremely enviable by others.
If Li Zhe is the leader of Datang's military logistics, then Li Dan is the leader of Datang's scientific and technological development. Both brothers have huge powers that are somewhat inexplicable but very affordable in the eyes of others. They should be criticized. The fear of their brother, who was the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, would gradually weaken the power in their hands.
But the fact is completely contrary to this. The emperor of the Tang Dynasty obviously did not want to weaken the power in their hands. Instead, he encouraged the two princes to continue to use the power in their hands to the maximum possible extent.
Regardless of whether it was Li Zhe or Li Dan, they were the most powerful princes in the Tang Dynasty, but they were completely indifferent to other matters. Even if someone wanted to find them through the back door or take some shortcuts in their official career, The two of them laughed and said: "Brother Huang has the final say on this matter. If I intervene, I'm afraid I will have the same fate as the person from Jiling City. So... you are not flattering me, you are harming me." I."
Even the governors and officials from various places would visit the two princes when they went to Chang'an every year to report. After all, the gate of the prince's mansion was open to anyone, but the prince's mouth was never open to anyone. We are open and never act as a lobbyist for any official.
The chubby Li Dan has lost a lot of weight in the past two years. After greeting the two imperial sisters-in-law who passed by him, Li Dan stepped into the imperial study room of Zichen Palace.
"I saw Lao Qi at the door just now. What does he want from you? Brother, I'm telling you, don't listen to his deception. The hot air balloon thing won't meet his expectations for a while. It is impossible for him to transport such heavy baggage, grain, grass and other things." Li Dan sat down opposite Li Hong and spoke first before Li Hong could speak, as if he was afraid that Li Hong would speak and ask him to speed up the process. of.
"Then why are you here this time? Two days ago, my father and mother just scolded you for the steam engine, so why did you come to me again?" Li Hong tilted his chin and looked at the things that the palace maid put in his hand. Tea cup, Li Dan said, studying it carefully.
"Do you use porcelain like this in your palace now? It's too mediocre, isn't it just to be on guard against me, and was it deliberately brought out to fool me?" Li Dan ignored Li Hong's question, but asked the exquisite tea cup.
"Don't think about it. The general is almost crying recently. They can't make it as fast as you can throw it. Can't you just let me go? You can find the general yourself. Whatever you want, just let me know. Just do whatever they want for you." Li Hong raised his head and twisted his neck. Since the morning meeting was over, he was sitting in the study room of Zichen Hall. People were coming and going without even moving a step. Someone came to see me.
"That won't work. The general will only be responsible for making anything for you, the emperor. Lao Qi and I are princes. Although we are relatives of the royal family, it is a bit overstepped to directly use things from the palace." Li Dan said seriously.
"I've said hello to the supervisor eight hundred times. It's no problem. If I don't pursue you, who will dare to pursue you?"
"When my father and mother pursued me, I didn't see you standing up for me even once, so I'd better choose from you." Li Dan stood up and stared straight at a porcelain cup in the bookcase behind him. , as if Bai Qi had seen prey, his eyes were shining.
Li Hong knew without looking that this guy was interested in the porcelain in the bookcase behind him. Fortunately, he had asked Pei Wanying and Chen Qinghan, who had just left, to hide the porcelain that was more precious than the one in the bookcase.
"Then why did you come here this time? Do you know that I haven't left this study since this morning." Li Hong said looking at Li Dan's fat back.
"You are the emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Naturally, you have a lot of government affairs to deal with every day. It is normal for you not to leave the imperial study room for most of the day." Li Dan picked up the porcelain pot and looked at it carefully. Then he said: "Oh, by the way, I came here this time because of the steam engine thing two days ago. Now it seems that I was too anxious. Some technical difficulties have not been overcome, so I thought I would solve them while running. I'll let you You are taking the blame in front of your father and mother, so I came here to ask for money. I have already spent all my budget for this year."
"Why are you looking for me? Haven't you already said hello to the Ministry of Finance? Even if the Ministry of Finance doesn't give it to you, Bai Chun will give it to you, right?" Li Hong was a little confused. This little thing is worth coming in person. Find me? You don’t want to come here to find exquisite and gorgeous porcelain.
"This pot is good. I accidentally dropped the one last time. I took this one away. I don't want those cups. Anyway, I drink tea at the spout. The Ministry of Finance has no money. This year The budget they made for me increased by 50% compared to last year, but I spent it all in less than half a year. I am embarrassed to ask for it from Miss Bai now. She is probably short of money now. I need to clean up the mess in the Taiyi City Medicinal Kitchen. It will probably cost a lot of money, so I can only ask you to help me solve it." Compared with other things, Li Dan's asking for money in front of Li Hong seemed more natural than other things, as if he said it. The money he wanted only temporarily existed with Li Hong. He was just here to take away his part of the money.
"You ask me for money, where can I get it for you? How can I have money if the Ministry of Revenue has no money? Besides, the old couple in Xingqing Palace now don't know what they want to build to praise them. The Palace of Merit and Virtue, which has made great achievements, plans to put their own statues in it for people to worship after a hundred years. Look, this is the memorial sent to me yesterday. It said ten million taels. I am the emperor, and If it’s not the Royal Bank, where can I get you so much money?” Li Hong said depressedly, spreading his hands.
As the saying goes, you don’t know that firewood, rice, oil and salt are expensive if you are not a ruler. Now that you have truly become the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, you have discovered that managing the government during your father’s reign and managing the government after you became the emperor are two completely different things. .
Now, he is probably the poorest emperor since the founding of the Tang Dynasty. Even the late Emperor Taizong, even when the Tang Dynasty had just been established and was full of waste, was probably richer than himself, right
Otherwise, how did the Daming Palace where I live now come from? This was the site originally chosen by Emperor Taizong Li Shimin to build, but later the construction was stopped due to some reasons, and it has been abandoned for more than ten years.
It wasn't until his wealthy father Long came to the throne and Taiyi City really started to make money that everything was truly perfected by him.
Now he wants to build another palace. He feels that Xingqing Palace is not enough for him and insists on building another one. However, he does not want to think about how much money he has left in the treasury for the country he left to his son!
Of course, although there is a lot of money in the well-filled treasury, in the past five years, he has been like a spending machine, especially Li Dan and Li Zhe, the two princes who helped him spend money, and the six-part series on the Tang Dynasty. The prosperous construction of bridges and roads, including the replacement of equipment for the Tang Dynasty Navy, the Central Army, and the four major corps, allowed him to drain the treasury all at once, leaving no money at all.
Now Li Dan has come to ask for money again, and Father Long wants to build a palace. This is a rhythm that will force him to death. If this continues, the matter of the empty treasury will definitely not be hidden from Father Long and Mother Long. Once they find out, if you don't have enough money, you will be pointed at your nose and scolded as a prodigal son.
"Then you have no money anymore? You are the emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Logically speaking, you should have a lot of money." Li Dan was surprised. The emperor never told lies on this matter. Moreover, he still wanted money, but the emperor never shied away from it.
Every time I asked for money, I wished I could give myself more. This allowed me to develop the steam engine and achieve some results in the past five years. But now at this critical moment, I have no money? So what should you do
Two days ago, the two brothers proudly invited their father and mother to the first train station in Chang'an City, so that Father Long and Mother Long could have a good look at it. According to the emperor's brother, this could not only change the Tang Dynasty, but even The steam engine that can change the whole world can be shown off in front of the father and the queen, and let the dragon father and the dragon mother see that after his son becomes the emperor, he will not be any worse than me.
But who knew that in the end, he would be held back and directly bring the emperor to the forefront. Thinking of Li Dan here, he suddenly felt that he had noticed Li Hong's secret, so he asked: "Brother, are you here?" Are you anxious to let your father and mother watch the train for two days just to cover up the fact that you spent all your money on the treasury? Are you thinking that once your father and mother find out that our Datang treasury is out of money, you plan to take it? Is this steam engine used to deal with the questioning from the emperor and the queen? "
"But I never thought that you didn't succeed. Do you know that you tricked me? You thought I was willing to let Li Zhe stop experimenting with hot air balloons, because I really can't get the money now."
"Then... what should I do? If I stop here, what will you do to deal with the emperor and the queen? The fact that the treasury has no money will soon be known to the emperor and the queen, right?"
"So I asked Bai Chun. If that doesn't work, I'll just borrow money from the Royal Bank, which my mother still controls, and the bank controlled by Bai Chun." Li Hong had a headache, as he, the emperor, actually had to borrow money. !
(End of chapter)