The side door of Danfeng Gate slowly opened, and hundreds of cavalry escorted Zhang Huan's carriage from the Daming Palace and galloped in the direction of Zhuque Street, in the carriage, Han sat in the front row, twisted his body and told Zhang Huan in the back row about the origin of the Chu family, "The Chu family has always been strong, since the Chu Mingyuan era in the Kaiyuan period, the Chu family has recruited people with strong folk customs in Wuyue to establish a grange of Zhuang Ding, it is said that there were three thousand people at most, but these families are scattered in various granges, and they have not been able to attract the attention of the imperial court, and they have reached the second generation of Chu Tan of the Chu family

Speaking of this, Han hesitated for a moment, Chu Tan is Zhang Huan's grandfather, will such a direct name cause him unhappiness, he secretly glanced at Zhang Huan, only to see that Zhang Huan was listening to himself with his eyes closed, he didn't have any expression at the mention of Chu Tan's name, Han slowly settled in his heart, and continued: "The prosperity of the Chu family is in the hands of the second generation of Chu Tan, by the twelfth year of Tianbao, the Chu family's Zhuang Ding has increased greatly, it is said that there are more than 20,000 people, and later An Lushan rebelled, and Chu Tan designed to kill Helan Jinming, The strength of the army expanded to 80,000 at once, Chu Xingshui was Chu Tan's eldest son at that time, and he was ordered to lead the army north to rescue Chen Liu, which was the foundation for the Chu family to become one of the seven major families

Han succinctly introduced the history of the Chu family, he knew that Zhang Huan wanted to know more about the current situation of the Chu family, and he sighed slightly and said: "Born in sorrow and died in peace, this sentence is most appropriate for the Chu family, how bloody the rise of the Chu family was, but after the world was peaceful, the Chu family occupied the richest Huainan generation in the Tang Dynasty, and the population multiplied rapidly, the family became rich and the enemy country, and the Chu family quickly softened." \\\\ If you talk about talents, the Chu family is indeed talented, the fourth generation of the Chu family is talented, even my daughter-in-law Chu Mingzhu also wrote a good hand, not to mention Chu Wei, Chu Huai, Chu Zhang, the children of the Chu family, known as Guangling Tianjiao, but unfortunately they are talented. But they are addicted to poetry, books and songs, and have no achievements in politics, let alone military operations, if it weren't for the rebellion in the Central Plains, the Chu family got tens of thousands of Li Shidao Puyang troops, I am afraid that the combat effectiveness of their Huainan Army is not even comparable to my regimental training. ”

"I heard that the assassin of Guangling County is called Zhao Yan, how is this person?" Zhang Huan suddenly interjected and asked. \\\\\

Han didn't know the relationship between Zhang Huan and Zhao Yan, he smiled and said, "This Zhao Yan's father is just a small official, but he can do the job of assassinating history in just seven or eight years. It's really not simple, not to mention how good his political ability is, there is one thing I admire him very much, when Zhao Yan was the commander of Jinling County, Chu Xingshui's brother Chu Xingyun wanted to marry his daughter to him, and ordered him to divorce his wife, his wife's surname is Lin, I heard that it is just a doctor's daughter, and in general, this kind of thing can't be asked. But he was good, saying that it was okay to be a concubine, and he would never divorce his wife. I really admire this backbone. ”

Zhang Huan nodded, Zhao Yan has always been chivalrous, and he is willing to pay for himself even with his life, now it seems that his character is still the same as before, and he has not been tarnished by the officialdom, Guangling County Assassin History, Zhang Huan smiled slightly, maybe the solution to the crisis of the Chu family is on Zhao Yan's body.

"Jianguo, I have always had an idea of solving the land problem." Han finally seized the opportunity to be alone with Zhang Huan. He said cautiously.

"You say!" Zhang Huan sat up suddenly, the land issue has always been a big problem in his mind, although he still has spare land in his hands, which can temporarily not touch the interests of the major families and nobles, but now is the time when the population of the Tang Dynasty is sparsely populated, once the population breeds, the contradictions with the major families will be inevitable. Moreover, the abolition of slavery was a matter of vital interest to the great families and the magnates. It is not so easy to implement, although it can be forcibly implemented by force. But it's not a long-term solution, so during this time, Zhang Huan has been thinking about this matter, and now Han, who has been an official in Jiangnan for a long time, actually has an idea, how can he not surprise him, and for a while, the problems of the Chu family were temporarily put aside by him.

Han Shen groaned for a moment before he said slowly: "Actually, my thinking is only four words: rejuvenate the town and prosper business. ”

"Heavy town and prosperous business!" A flash of realization flashed in Zhang Huan's heart, and he continued to ask silently: "Please explain to Han Envoy." ”

"This is my experience of being an official in Jiangnan for decades, and I have also witnessed the development of Jiangnan, all because of the city, because of the profit and gathering, not to mention the first commercial capital of the Tang Dynasty, Guangling, the prosperity of the merchants, continuing for a hundred years, there are Japan, Silla in the east, there are big food, Persian Hu merchants in the west, the world treasures, gathered here, the powerful and noble people in Beijing opened stores in Jiangdu are countless, so there are Tang Dynasty commercial taxes, seven points taken from Yangzhou, Jiangnan in addition to Guangling, there are more Run, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Chang and other states, Dongwu opera, the first crown Jianghuai, Overlapping rivers and mountains, tiling wells and wide yi, dense people over Yangfu, fang noisy half Chang'an, this refers to Suzhou Wu County; The famous county in the southeast, light and beautiful, Pepsi is prosperous, the throat Wu Yue, the strong rivers and seas, the land controls the mountains, the Lu Qiao is twenty miles, the opening of 30,000 rooms, the heavenly palace on the ground also, this refers to Hangzhou Yuhang

Han did not hesitate to depict the wealth of Jiangnan, and Zhang Huan also closed his eyes, imagining the beautiful and rich southeast shape of the victory, and the first \\\\\\

"After the Anshi Rebellion, the north was devastated, only the business prosperity in the south of the Yangtze River, rich fish and rice, brought opportunities for the recovery of the Tang Dynasty, but since Emperor Suzong, the local government has repeatedly restricted the merchants, the light is strict taxes and harsh stripping, and the heavy is to steal the house to get money, although this is the last resort to absorb military spending, but the practice of changing the place of the merchants has not changed, the previous assassin is enlightened, perhaps encourage industry and commerce, but to the next assassin history is to limit the business and agriculture, and crack down on the merchants, in this way, the merchants are not safe, they have opened shops to make money, into the countryside to buy land, As a result, the people are always inseparable from the land, and it is difficult to increase the population of cities and towns. ”

Speaking of this, Han Wei sighed slightly and said: "When I was doing the history of assassination in Wu County, there was a giant businessman Zhao Qianqian, who had 800 silk machines at home, more than 2,000 hired workers, weaving day and night, and a huge family fortune. Zhao Qianqian returned to his hometown in anger to buy hundreds of acres of land, and no longer talked about business for life. ”

When Han said this, Zhang Huan fully understood the profound meaning of the important towns and commercial places he was referring to, developing the scale of cities, encouraging industry and commerce, and transferring the population to cities and towns, so that even if the population breeds. \\\\\\ people also have something to eat, and this is in line with his idea of abolition of slavery, especially to control the scale of wealthy families, which can be said to be counted in one fell swoop, but he also knows that things are not so simple, and there are many aspects to cooperate, such as the scale of coinage, the search for copper mines, etc. But more importantly, a change in the mainstream concept, although the status of merchants has been greatly improved since the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, and when Cui Yuan was in power, the restrictions on merchants were further relaxed, such as merchants can ride horses, participate in the imperial examinations, and wear Confucian robes, but like Han's suggestion of simultaneous development of agriculture and commerce, it is the first time since the Qin and Han dynasties, and it will definitely be opposed by many scholars, and the stakes are very high. You have to think long-term.

Han saw that Zhang Huan was already moved, so he persuaded again: "Of course, this is a gradual process, and you can't rush it." I suggest that we can start from two aspects, one is to reform the levy system, now salt, iron, tea and wine and other bulk commodities are monopolized by the government, competing with businessmen for profit, it seems that the government has income for a while, but in fact it is not good for the long run, and in addition to the salt tax, iron, tea, and wine do not have much tax profits, everyone sells them privately, and they can't be blocked. Of course, the salt profit is too great, not only can not be released, but also to strengthen control, iron is a strategic material can not be released, the rest of the tea, wine is not as good as liberalizing but conducive to development, this is one; The second is the issue of government and business, as far as I know. Many dignitaries opened shops and did business. Compete with the people for profit, and do not pay a penny of taxes. In particular, the use of power to monopolize the market, crack down on big businessmen, and crowd out small and medium-sized businessmen, this is a very malignant tumor, and the prison state might as well take advantage of this opportunity to crack down on Chujiadi to purge officials and businessmen in Guangling County and promote commercial development. ”

Zhang Huan thought for a long time, and finally nodded and said, "Okay!" Let me think about this matter carefully, and let's focus on solving the Chu family's problems first. ”

Night soon fell, Han did not stay in Zhang Huan's mansion for a long time, only drank a few glasses of water and wine before saying goodbye Zhang Huan has been sending him outside the mansion, Han to Zhang Huan bowed deeply and said: "I am grateful to be entertained by the prison country, and I will do my best to be loyal to His Royal Highness the prison country!" ”

Zhang Huan also arched his hand with a smile, and when he saw that Han only had a dozen followers, he immediately ordered Li Dingfang to say: "Send two teams of personal soldiers to protect Han Shangshu, and follow him in the future, without the slightest carelessness." ^^^^”

"Yes!" Li Dingfang immediately flew to order troops, but Han was overjoyed in his heart, Zhang Huan attached so much importance to himself, which meant that what he had just said had been effective, he saluted Zhang Huan again and again to show his inner gratitude, and then got into the carriage, and went under the escort of two hundred mighty Xiliang cavalry. Zhang Huan watched him go away before turning around and going back to his house, when suddenly, he saw three extremely gorgeous carriages parked not far away, so he asked the porter: "Who are those carriages?" ”

The porter glanced at it and hurriedly said: "It was a big businessman's carriage, he asked to see the master, and said that he was the old man of the master, and the housekeeper didn't dare to drive him away, so he let him wait here, it's been almost two hours." ”

"The deceased?" Zhang Huan thought about it, but he couldn't remember which old man in his land was a big businessman, so he ordered: "Go and bring him over." ”

The porter answered, and ran towards the carriage, and in a moment the carriage door opened, and out of it came an extremely fat man, who looked like a big ball of meat from a distance, and was running towards it with great difficulty.

Zhang Huan's heart moved, he suddenly knew who this person was, Song Lianyu once said that Zheng Qingming specialized in cross-sea trade in Guangling, and now he is a rich country, Zhang Huan's eyes slowly narrowed, how could it be so coincidental? He was thinking about Guangling for the past two days, and he came.

He saw that it was very difficult for the other party to walk, so he smiled at Li Dingfang and said, "Take two brothers to help him." ”

For a moment, several pro-soldiers helped the fat man to walk slowly, approached Zhang Huan and saw the puffy and lustful eyes at a glance, sure enough, it was Zheng Qingming, Zheng Qingming was Zhang Huan's friend when he was studying in Taiyuan, he was a rich rich child, the biggest problem was lustful, when he went to Beijing to participate in the imperial examination, he fell off the list because he forgot to take the test in the Qinglou, and then returned to his hometown to inherit the family property, a few years ago when Zhu Chaoshu was in Shu, he escaped from Shu and Guangling, with the help of Zhao Yan started trading with Japan, smuggling, slave trafficking did everything, In just a few years, he became a wealthy businessman. \\\\\\ has a fleet of twenty canton ships.

Although Zheng Qingming was rich and rivaled the country, he did not dare to be presumptuous in front of Zhang Huan, he knelt on the ground and kowtowed three times respectfully, "Grass people Zheng Qingming knocks on His Royal Highness King Yong!" ”

Among Zhang Huan's former friends, in addition to Lin Zhiyu's death in Wuwei County, Zhao Yan achieved the assassination of Guangling County. Song Lianyu did Taichang Temple Shaoqing, and Xin Lang was also promoted to the governor of Gaochang and the capital of Beiting, but this Zheng Qingming was in business, although he was rich, but his status was very low, Zhang Huan listened to his familiar voice, and suddenly remembered the speed at which he ran to the canteen, and his heart couldn't help but feel a burst of warmth. He hurriedly stepped forward to help him up, patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "I heard that you actually married a hundred wives, which is really enviable!" ”

Zheng Qingming seemed to see Zhang Qu's illness from Zhang Huan's eyes, his fear gradually disappeared, and when he heard Zhang Huan teasing him, he couldn't help scratching the back of his head and smiled: "I specially prepared a little meeting gift for going sick." ”

"Zheng Da businessman actually prepared a meeting gift for me, what is it?" Zhang Huan couldn't help but ask with interest.

Zheng Qingming immediately turned his head and shouted loudly into the carriage, "You all come down." ”

I saw the doors of the two carriages open, and a group of beautiful women came down from inside, all with fair skin and beautiful appearances. I only saw a group of guards stunned.

Zheng Qingming smiled a little proudly: "There are fifteen Japanese women and seven Silla women here, all of whom are seventeen or eight years old, and all of them are virgins. I bought them from Japan and Silla at great expense, and taught them to sing and dance, especially for those who are sick! His Royal Highness King Yong. ”

Zhang Huan didn't expect Zheng Qingming to give himself a woman, how could he accept this kind of gift, he was about to refuse, but he seemed to think of something, so he glanced at the guards around him, many of them have reached the age when they should start a family, and it is time for them to think about it, so he nodded and smiled at Zheng Qingming and said, "I accepted your gift." ”

He then pointed to the group of women and said to Steward Sun, "Take them into the house and give them to Madame." ”

"Yes!" Steward Sun hurriedly stepped forward and introduced a group of women into the mansion. I was placed in the annex first.

Zhang Huan saw that the group of women were gone, so he asked Zheng Qingming again: "You came to me, it won't be as simple as reminiscing!" ”

Give him Zheng Qingming a hundred guts, he didn't dare to come to Zhang Huan to catch up, of course he came for something, Zheng Qingming saw that there were no outsiders left and right, so he said in a low voice: "I am entrusted by Zhao Yan." There is something important to tell you to get sick. ”

Zhang Huan smiled slightly. As expected, Zhao Yan did not stand idly by on the Chu family's matter. It seems that he has always been very concerned about the situation in the imperial court.

"You come with me!" Zhang Huan took Zheng Qingming to his study.

After entering the study, Zhang Huan asked Zheng Qingming to sit down, and ordered the maid to serve tea, and then he asked, "Zhao Yan has any major things for you to tell me?" ”

"He didn't say what it was, just asked me to pass on a letter to you." Zheng Qingming carefully took out a letter from his bosom, handed it over, and his soldiers stepped forward to take it and forwarded it to Zhang Huan.

Zhang Huan opened the letter, Zhao Yan's strong font jumped out in front of his eyes, and the content was roughly the same as he thought, the Chu family had reached an agreement that the Huainan army would never be handed over to the imperial court, Chu Xingshui personally trained the army every day, and blocked the Cao transport ships from going north, at the end of the letter, Zhao Yan said that he would be resolutely loyal to the imperial court.

Although he knew that this would be the end, Zhang Huan's heart was still full of regrets, Chu Xingshui disappointed him, Chu Xingshui still did not have the foresight of the Cui family and the Pei family, didn't he know that he would never allow the family to have an army again?

Zhang Huan sighed secretly in his heart, things had developed to this point, and he was helpless.

"Did you come to Chang'an just to deliver me a letter?" Zhang Huan accepted the letter and smiled at Zheng Qingming.

"I am a businessman, of course, the businessman is for profit, I bought a batch of Wang Bao Ji land flight tickets at eighty percent of the price in Guangling, and this time I came to the Beijing Wang Bao Ji cabinet to cash in."

Zhang Huan seemed to be the first time to see Zheng Qingming shrewd, he looked him up and down, then nodded approvingly and smiled: "I can't see that you are very business-minded, and you have made twenty percent of the profits from this change." ”

Zheng Qingming's face flushed slightly and said: "Actually, I don't want to do this business, if it weren't for the fact that these friends usually have a good relationship, I would never buy their tickets, the risk is really great, if the tickets are fake, who will I go to?" ”

Zhang Huan was a little surprised, "Isn't there a branch of Wang Baoji Cabinet Fang in Guangling County?" Why do you want to come to Chang'an to cash in? ”

"Isn't this a gift from the Chu family?" Zheng Qingming sighed, he shook his head helplessly and said: "The Chu family wanted to open a cabinet shop by themselves, so they forced down the Wang Baoji Guangling store, so everyone couldn't cash it, and many friends were in urgent need of money turnover, so they sold the ticket to me at a reduced price, and I don't know if I did something stupid." ”

"I see!" Zhang Huan nodded and said, "Do you need me to help you with this matter?" ”

"I don't need to help anything with this matter, it's just, it's just that Zheng Qingming said two just, and then he held back what he wanted to say, "We all feel that copper coins are really inconvenient, heavy and difficult to take, and the ticket must go to the designated place to redeem money, the matter of the shopping mall is changing rapidly, it is too fixed, in fact, it is also very inconvenient, so I discussed with some friends, and suggested that the imperial court can issue an official ticket, which is printed with a fixed amount, and you can buy things directly with this official ticket, without the pain of redeeming money, and go to the sick to hold the power of the imperial court, Can you think about it? ”

"An official ticket that can buy things directly?" Zhang Huan heard a new train of thought today, and his eyes suddenly lit up as if he saw the sun through the clouds.

(Continue to ask for a monthly pass)