On this day, the people of Chang'an felt an unusual tense atmosphere as soon as they got up.

Today, there seem to be a lot fewer people rushing to buy salt in the salt shop, and just as the people came forward to exchange for salt with the prepared grain, they suddenly saw a wooden sign next to it that read, "Today's salt price is 100 wen a bucket."

"I'm not mistaken, the price of salt today is only 100 wen a bucket?" A common man was clearly suspicious of his eyes.

"You are dreaming, yesterday it was eight times, and today I am afraid it will rise to nine." In fact, they don't have to worry about the price of salt at all, because neither eight or nine can afford it, anyway, they exchange grain for salt.

"Huh? It seems that it is really written on a hundred articles and one bucket, is it wrong? ”

More and more people saw the words on the wooden sign and began to talk about it.

Laifu, who was directing the men to tidy up the salt shop, said with a smile: "There is no mistake, the price of salt today is one hundred wen and a bucket!" ”

Most of the people knew Laifu, who was in charge of the salt shop in the Jiayuan Marquis' mansion, and immediately asked, "Then can we buy salt with copper money?" ”

These days, they are exchanging grain for salt, and now the price of grain is not cheap, if salt is really only a hundred yuan a bucket, it is more cost-effective to buy it with money than to exchange it for grain.

Laifu nodded and said: "Of course, I was about to say that from today the salt shop will stop exchanging grain for salt, and all will be bought with money." ”

When everyone heard this, they hurriedly rushed forward to buy salt, and the salt shop stopped exchanging grain for salt, because they were afraid that the price of salt would rise again. Seeing this, Laifu smiled and said: "You don't have to squeeze, the salt in the salt shop is very sufficient, and the price of salt will not rise again." ”

Although he said this, the people who had suffered from the skyrocketing price of salt still rushed forward to buy salt, and Laifu smiled helplessly, letting the men in the salt shop sell salt while maintaining order.

Just when the people were scrambling to buy salt. Groups of heavily armed soldiers suddenly appeared on the street, and some people whispered: "It can't be sent by the imperial court to seal up the salt shop, right?" ”

When the salt shop first opened, they had such worries, and the prohibition of private ownership of salt and iron was something that children knew about.

"Humph! Why did the imperial court seal the salt shop, if it wasn't for the Marquis of Jiayuan to open a salt shop, where would we have salt to eat, wouldn't the imperial court let the Hou Ye sell salt if he didn't release salt! A burly man felt indignant for Wang Xiang.

"Shhhh These officers and soldiers should not have come for the salt shop. ”

"How do you know?"

"I've heard people say that it's not that the imperial court doesn't release salt, but that all the salt released by the imperial court has been bought by the people of the family."

"Wouldn't it? What does the Maison buy so much salt for? Some people were puzzled.

"And why, of course, it was hoarded and sold as illicit salt, otherwise how could the price of salt rise so fast."

Laifu smiled slightly when he listened to the people's discussions, and said: "What this friend said is right, in fact, this salt shop was also opened by His Majesty to let our Hou Ye, otherwise we would not dare to open the salt shop privately." ”

"Huh? I see. Why didn't His Majesty directly let the government sell salt, but let Hou Ye open another salt shop? ”

Laifu explained: "The family was greedy and took advantage of the Turkic invasion of the Tang Dynasty to hoard salt and raise the price of salt to make a profit. Most of the salt released by the imperial court was bought by them, and then hoarded and sold as high-priced private salt. Everyone also knows that the soldiers at the front and against the Turks are inseparable from salt, and the family wants to swallow all the salt of the soldiers for their own benefit, not to mention the salt of the common people, which is really chilling. ”

"Originally, the salt stored in the imperial court was enough for the people and the soldiers in front to eat, and it was precisely because of the family's hoarding of salt that the salt was scarce, Your Majesty let us Hou Ye set up another salt shop in order to make everyone eat salt, and used the high price of salt to reduce the scale of the family's salt purchase, and at the same time used food to exchange salt for salt to distribute salt to the people who really needed it, in fact, the grain that everyone used to exchange for salt His Majesty asked people to send it back to everyone."

Hearing what Lai Fu said, a smart common man suddenly came to his senses and said, "No wonder the imperial court has distributed a lot more potatoes recently than before. It turns out that Your Majesty is thinking about us. ”

"Those families are really damned, our family has not eaten salt for several days, and they even hoard salt."

"yes. Fortunately, His Majesty Shengming came up with such a good way to distribute salt to our people. ”

"Your Majesty Shengming!" The people who understood it shouted from the bottom of their hearts.

Li Er, who was hiding in a salt shop in civilian clothes, bent a big arc at the corner of his mouth, and said in his heart: Wang Zixin, I remember your great achievements!

After the emotion, some people asked, "What are these soldiers?" ”

Laifu was already prepared, and sighed and said: "Your Majesty has taken out all the best refined salt used in the palace and distributed it to everyone in order to make everyone eat salt, and you said that there is no salt to eat at home for a few days." In fact, the palace has been out of salt for several days. His Majesty said that it doesn't matter if he doesn't eat salt, but the soldiers who are defending the Turks and defending the people of the Tang Dynasty in front can't eat without salt, everyone must know the ferocity of the Turks, if they are allowed to fight in......"

The thought of the murderous people of the Turks trembled, and someone said, "I will buy less salt today, so that I can have enough food at home." The rest is left to the soldiers ahead. ”

"Yes, yes, I also buy less, in fact, we don't have many families, and we can eat a bucket of salt for a long time."

"Well, we can't let the soldiers go without salt, they fought bloody battles against the Turks at the front to protect us."

Listening to the discussion of the people, Li Er's eyes flashed with inexplicable emotion, Wang Zixin is right, the people of the Tang Dynasty are the most simple people, as long as they are a little kind to them, they will think about your good wholeheartedly.

Even the people who have never read the books of the sages have this heart, but those families who have read the books of the sages are so mad! Li Er's gaze instantly turned cold.

The people said that they would buy less salt and leave the remaining salt for the soldiers in front, Laifu smiled and said: "This is not necessary, the salt of our Datang is sufficient, but it is all hoarded by the family, and these soldiers are sent by His Majesty to let them open a warehouse to put salt." ”

"Yes, let them open a warehouse and put salt, if they don't put salt, let Your Majesty punish him for his crimes!"

At this moment, all the people were united in their hatred.

"I don't know how much salt the family has hoarded."

"I'm also curious, why don't we go over and have a look together."

After buying the salt, the people followed the soldiers curiously in the direction of the family, they wanted to see how much salt the family had hoarded.

Li Er, under the escort of Wei Chi Jingde, mingled among more and more people, and couldn't help but think of a sentence written by Wang Xiang in his letter: Public anger can subvert a dynasty, let alone a small family, when the mountains of salt are exposed to the people, it is the time when the family is destroyed.

At this moment, Li Er more deeply understood what the people were and what the community was.

(To be continued.) )