Practice is the only criterion for testing truth.

Although this sentence was not said by Li Yuanji, he has always used this sentence to spur the officials of the Tang Dynasty, of course, the historian will naturally record the source of this sentence on Li Yuanji's head.

Jingyang, this extremely familiar place.

Li Yuanji had not stayed here for a long time, but he had fought the Turks here, and there were many, many other memories.

As an emperor, no matter how idle he is, he can't be idle enough to go around every surrounding county.

And Jingyang is a place chosen by Li Yuanji.

It is located about 30 miles in the north of Chang'an, and it is the only way to connect the north of the town with Chang'an, but it is restricted by the distance too far, so it is more used for water transportation, and does not pay much attention to land transportation.

Unlike Huazhou and other places, it is located on the way between Guanzhong and the Central Plains, and after Tongguan, it is also some distance from Chang'an.

Even if the tax reform has had an impact on many places, although Huazhou and other places can't run, but the results obtained by going there are far less cost-effective than going to Jingyang.

Dressed up in disguise, he just secretly brought some guards, and no one knew where Li Yuanji went, of course, there were only a few people who knew that he left Chang'an, in order not to expose his whereabouts, Li Yuanji even left Song Zhong in the palace.

When I came to the slightly dilapidated Jingyang City, the city gate was wide open, and the soldiers guarding it were a little listless.

This is not far from Chang'an, but it is precisely for this reason that the current situation in Jingyang has been caused, if Jingyang can be further twenty miles north, even if it is ten miles away, they will not be so miserable now.

There was not much flow of people, and there was hardly any sign of a caravan entering the city except for the people who entered the city in twos and threes.

Liu Shan sat on a chair, and on the table in front of him, there were some paper, ink, pens and inkstones that recorded materials, but it could be seen that he hadn't moved for a long time.

At this time, Liu Shan was stepping up his homework, and he could barely be called a review.

The content of the book, Liu Shan has already memorized it, and all the knowledge points have been mastered, but the book is such a thing, if you don't read it for a long time, you will forget it.

Liu Shan, who was idle and bored, took out the most used arithmetic that had been turned over and kept flipping it.

Liu Shan is the youngest son of the Liu family who once donated 3,800 stone of grain in the year of the famine, when Li Yuanji named his father the son of Jingyang County, and promoted Liu Shan to be the governor of Qincha, who was responsible for supervising the grain of the official warehouse.

But with the passing of the disaster year, there is no need to put grain in the official warehouse, and Liu Shan's temporary official position naturally has no effect.

Maybe it was out of gratitude, or maybe it was because Liu Shan's performance as the governor of the Qin mission convinced Min Xian, the commander of Jingyang County, so after the famine passed, Liu Shan was retained, but his identity changed from an official to a small official.

In this tax reform, as a rare 'modern' talent in Jingyang County, Liu Shan was naturally entrusted with an important task by Min Xian, personally responsible for a city gate, not to mention, but also responsible for sorting out the entry and exit tax calculation of the four city gates today after the city gate is closed every day.

It's just that what makes Liu Shan a little depressed is that the geographical location of Jingyang is very embarrassing, the workload is not much, and the idleness all day long makes people feel a little moldy.

"This official is disturbed, I don't know if I can ask for a drink?"

"Wait a minute!" Although he was reading a book, his attention could not be completely focused on the book, Liu Shan had already noticed that the rich boy was walking towards him, but what surprised him was that he was actually here to beg for water to drink.

took out his own kettle (made of gourds), poured out some slightly, washed the black ceramic bowl briefly, and then poured out a full bowl of water, and handed it to Li Yuanji with both hands.

Li Yuanji didn't dislike it, took the ceramic bowl with both hands, put it into his stomach in one go, and thanked him again and again.

"Childe is alone?" Liu Shan asked with some surprise.

Li Yuanji's dress is not ordinary people at all, and the horse behind him is even more beautiful, just that horse can be worth a lot of money.

And a rich man, even if he is really thirsty, is not even willing to walk a few more steps to the city to enjoy cleaner water?

The Liu family is not rich, compared to those big families, the Liu family is not poor, even if they become small officials, with a fortune, Liu's father will also give himself some expenses from time to time.

Although Liu Shan didn't mind giving him a bowl of water to drink, on the other hand, if Liu Shan was the other party, he would definitely not pull down his face to ask for this bowl of water to drink at this time.

"Yes, alone!" Li Yuanji nodded calmly, feeling that Liu Shan's heart was not bad, and his tone of voice was relatively kind, plus he also had some doubts in his heart, so he couldn't help asking: "I don't know if the officials can solve their doubts, why is the flow of people in Jingyang so scarce?" ”

Liu Shan frowned slightly, secretly probed Li Yuanji, and said secretly: "Supervisor? ’

The more I think about it, the more I think it is possible, and in addition to those tasks on the surface, the supervisors on the supervisory desk sometimes accept some secret search tasks.

For example, investigating the reputation of a local official among the people, etc., a few days ago, the county lieutenant of the next county was too domineering when collecting taxes, and when someone asked, the people naturally wanted to blame him.

If it's intentional, it's not intentional.

The people just wanted to vent their dissatisfaction in their hearts, but no one knew that the person who asked them happened to be the supervisor who visited them secretly.

As a result, the supervisor reported the matter, and in less than a month, the county lieutenant was taken away, without even a superficial investigation.

However, it wasn't until later that I learned that the supervisor had secretly investigated everything that could be investigated in the past month, and the problem was not a big problem, and there was no such thing as corruption and perversion of the law, but as a county lieutenant, his reputation in a county was stinky, and it directly affected the imperial court, so no matter what, he couldn't continue to work there.

The flow of people is sparse, this is a big problem, if there is any mistake in the answer, it will directly affect the county magistrate Min Xian.

In the face of this stranger who doesn't know the roots, Liu Shan doesn't dare to be as open-mouthed as the people.

"That's the case, my family has recently made some money doing business with the royal family, so the elders have set a goal for us juniors, each of us will give some money, and go to the project for investment by ourselves, for three years, the one who makes the most money will have the opportunity to take over as the patriarch, I also came here to see if it is suitable to do business, but I never thought that the flow of people seems to be a little insufficient." Seeing Liu Shan's doubts, Li Yuanji didn't think of other aspects, but felt that the other party seemed to be a little cautious, and casually made up an excuse.

Hearing this, Liu Shan secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Although the folk customs of this era are strong, the folk customs are also very simple, although there are also deceptions or something, but that is only a small part.

If Li Yuanji, a rich son, is a liar, then Liu Shan can only feel that he is too idle.

With Li Yuanji's dress and his statement, Liu Shan has gradually ruled out the possibility that the other party is a supervisor, because the supervisor will not match him with such a good horse, and the rich boy may not be interested in being a hard and tired supervisor.

"It stands to reason that I should die for Jingyang when I eat Jingyang grain, but I really can't do such a conscience thing. If Childe wants to do business, he can go to Sanyuan, twenty miles to the northeast, where the flow of people is dense and the business is prosperous, unlike ours, where you can only see scattered merchants at night, before closing the city gate. Liu Shan said with a bitter face.

Most of the people from Zhenbei to Chang'an do not take the land route, which is a blow to the counties in the north, but after all, there are people in the north, and there should be commerce, although it is not as prosperous as Chang'an and Luozhou.

"Why? Isn't it more attractive to be closer to Chang'an? Li Yuanji pretended to be puzzled.

"Here is only more than 30 miles away from Chang'an, and Sanyuan is only about 60 miles away from Chang'an, 60 miles of road, for most caravans, get up earlier in the morning, hurry up on the way, and can finish in one day, if you delay some time in Jingyang, you can't enter Chang'an on the same day, which is equivalent to spending an extra day's expenses, so most caravans have already calculated the appropriate route and resting point, in addition to these resting points, other places are basically similar to Jingyang." Liu Shan said helplessly, who wants to spend two days walking the road that can be completed in one day? And how much does it cost to stay overnight? A caravan, to say the least, costs dozens of dollars, and if you can catch up with it, you can save dozens of dollars, and if you save it, you can make money.

Perhaps thinking of other issues that were not mentioned, Liu Shan continued: "I almost forgot that other places in the north are better than Jingyang in terms of the flow of people, because Jingyang is too close to Chang'an, and with the squeeze of Sanyuan, it is even difficult for the people to find a suitable job opportunity, so most of the young people go to Chang'an together, after all, there is much more money earned there than here." ”

Bloodsucking, vacuum, Li Yuanji didn't expect that he would encounter this problem at all.

And this is an unsolvable problem, which has taken decades in later generations, but has not been able to solve this problem, not that it cannot be solved, but that it is necessary to break the existing rules and achievements, and then redivide the cake.

Jingyang has the advantage of Jingyang, but it is obvious that the situation at the moment is that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages.

"Didn't the county think of some other way to save it?" Li Yuanji felt a little helpless and a little unwilling.

"I thought about it, why didn't I think about it?" When Liu Shan heard this, he instantly came to motivation, put down the book and continued: "Reduce the price of the overnight stay to attract the caravan to stay, but some of the rest points seem to have been negotiated a long time ago, most of the caravans stay there, only a few caravans are willing to come to Jingyang to save some money, but the money earned every day is very small, almost negligible." ”