readx; The old housekeeper led Wang Yuanbao to the study and whispered to him: "The master is in a bad mood, don't talk nonsense." Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ”

"Thank you!"

"Master, Wang Yuanbao is here."

"Come in!"

Wang Yuanbao took a deep breath, walked into the study quickly, knelt down for Zhang Yun and said, "Cao Min Wang Yuanbao, see Zhang Xiangguo." ”

Perhaps thinking of the heavy gift given by Wang Yuanbao, Zhang Yun's face was a little softer, and he waved his hand and said, "Please sit down!" ”

Although Wang Yuanbao kept saying that Zhang Yun was his backstage, in fact, Zhang Yun himself did not admit that he was a scholar of Hanlin University and a leader of the Tang Dynasty literary circle, how could he admit that he had a close relationship with a businessman?

But Wang Yuanbao is such a generous businessman is the source of money he needs, therefore, Zhang Yun has been letting his son communicate with the Wang family, he himself is rarely to meet Wang Yuanbao, like today let Wang Yuanbao into his study, it is unprecedented.

Wang Yuanbao was also very excited in his heart, Zhang Yun actually invited himself into his study, this is not an ordinary glory, he forgot his intention for a while, and stammered excitedly complimented: "Zhang Xiangguo is worthy of being the first minister of the Tang Dynasty, and he has not forgotten state affairs so late." ”

Zhang Yun is obviously reading books, what does it have to do with state affairs? Wang Yuanbao's sycophant is not on the horse's mouth, what is the first phase of the Tang Dynasty, he is neither the right nor the left, where is the first, of course, his qualifications are the oldest, but that's it, if Li Qingan compliments him, he may be complacent, but it is a businessman full of copper smell to compliment him, Zhang Yun couldn't help frowning, and some regretted letting this person into his study.

"If you have anything urgent, just say it!"

Wang Yuanbao didn't dare to say more, and hurriedly said: "Back to Zhang Xiangguo, Li Qing'an sent someone to find the villain today." ”

Wang Yuanbao said that Hu Yunpei came to him, but concealed his profits, and finally said: "He wants to use silver dollars to buy a large number of copper coins, we suspect that it is related to the imperial court to issue new silver coins, there are not enough copper coins on the market, and the new silver coins may be difficult to list, the matter is urgent, and the villain reported to Xiangguo overnight." ”

The more Zhang Yun listened, the more surprised he became, at this time he had already put aside the matter of Li Longji's awakening, and he was thinking about one thing in his mind, what was Li Qingan going to do?

Who is Zhang Yun? has been a household secretary for ten years, how could he not understand where Li Qing'an's sword is pointing? He was obviously teaching Li Yu a lesson about seizing Hexi, and even forcing Li Yu to make concessions, or he was planning further, if Li Qing'an really bought a large number of copper coins, Li Yu's issuance of silver coins, I am afraid that the possibility of failure will be very great.

If Li Yu's new money method fails, then his plan to recruit 200,000 new troops will be shattered, and if the time drags on, he will face an extremely unfavorable situation militarily, not to mention An Lushan, even the other three kings will also attack one after another, they will not allow Li Yu to stay on the throne for too long, in Li Yu's advocacy of issuing new money, Zhang Yun's mentality is more contradictory, on the one hand, he hopes that Li Yu will fail, so that he has no ability to recruit soldiers, but on the other hand, he is happy to see the situation of boiling public resentment caused by the issuance of new coins, This gave the other three kings an excuse to hold the king accountable.

Zhang Yun was conflicted in his heart and was silent, but at this time, Zhang Yan next to him suddenly asked: "You said that person came to see you with Li Qingan's No. 16 gold medal, have you seen him?" ”

Wang Yuanbao shook his head, "It's the first time I've seen him, and Xing Wei is also the first time I've seen him, this person is very mysterious, he only knows his surname Hu, he doesn't know his name, he doesn't know his identity, and he doesn't want to see me again tomorrow." ”

Zhang Yan groaned for a while, and then said to Zhang Yun: "Big brother, I suspect that this person is the leader of the Han and Tang Associations, does Big Brother remember the exposure of Li Qingan's identity?" He has a secret organization in the Central Plains. ”

"This person is not important, and even if he is, you will not find him."

Zhang Yun sighed and said: "He won't show up again, second brother, don't pay attention to this person, pay attention to the incident itself, Li Qingan is going to compete with the saint." ”

"Just exchange millions of dollars, big brother takes this matter too seriously!"

Zhang Yun shook his head and said to Wang Yuanbao: "Wang Dong, please avoid it for the time being!" ”

Wang Yuanbao knew that their brothers had secrets to talk about, and they couldn't be present as outsiders, so he quickly got up and retreated, the study became very quiet, Zhang Yun paced slowly in the room with his hands behind his back, he walked to the window, looked at the dark night outside the window, for a long time, he said in a low voice: "In fact, I am not optimistic about him in the issuance of silver coins on the Holy Lord, even if there is no Li Qing'an, An Lushan, King Shu, and King Wu They will also sabotage, the issuance of new money is not a matter of one or two days, his move is unpopular, and sooner or later he will fail, in fact, what I am worried about is not this." ”

"So what is Big Brother worried about?"

"I'm worried about Li Qingan's backhand!"

Zhang Yun sighed helplessly, and said slowly: "He bought a large amount of copper coins this time, as if he wanted to confront the saint, but in fact, his real purpose is not here. ”

Zhang Yan was surprised: "Isn't he here to block the Holy Lord's new money method?" ”

"It's right that he wants to block the new money method, but if your vision stops, then you think Li Qingan is too simple."

Zhang Yun sneered and said: "His real purpose is to control the coins of the Tang Dynasty, and use his Anxi silver dollar to eventually replace Kaiyuan Tongbao, or to Anxi silver dollar-based, Kaiyuan Tongbao as a supplement, this matter is not just today, he did it a few years ago, step by step is steadily advancing, I have been observing, and the saint has also found this sign, so he instigated the Hexi Incident, wanting to block the road of Li Qing'an's silver dollar eastward, Li Qing'an is of course unwilling to fail his plan, and the counterattack is inevitable, At this time, the saint was going to issue new silver coins, and this matter became a breakthrough for Li Qing'an's counterattack, if Li Qing'an's counterattack was successful, the imperial court would no longer be able to prevent the Anxi silver dollar from entering the Central Plains, and the Tang Dynasty coins would be controlled by Anxi sooner or later. ”

Zhang Yan was shocked when he heard this, and he hurriedly said: "Since the eldest brother has discovered Li Qingan's great conspiracy, why don't you stop him, I'm afraid it's not good for us." ”

Zhang Yun's eyes turned to the window again, he seemed to be pondering again, but there was a hint of mockery in his eyes, he turned his head, glanced at his brother and said: "I want you to understand three things, first, what is not well thought out, don't jump to conclusions, don't easily oppose or support, this is the fundamental reason why you have not been able to become a prime minister; Second, no one can stop Li Qing'an's silver dollar offensive, the reason is very simple, because the people of Datang like Anxi silver dollars, and even you, don't you like them too? Why did the silver money of the imperial court become garbage, whoever planted the bitter vine at that time, who should taste the bitter fruit now, the reincarnation of heaven, and the retribution is unpleasant; Thirdly, I also hope that the Holy Master's new money method fails, if he does not fail, then when will I be able to come back? ”

"What does that big brother mean ....."

"It's very simple, we want to promote the cooperation between Wang Yuanbao and Li Qingan, and then we will ignore it and wait and see."

．．．．．．．． Early this morning, the Anxi cabinet shop in Chang'an East City and West City closed down at the same time, the money and things in the cabinet have been emptied, the shopkeeper and the guy are nowhere to be found, and the entire cabinet has become an empty house, leaving no piece of paper.

The news spread, the businessmen of the two cities flocked to the place, many people have a lot of money in the Anxi cabinet shop, they are so anxious that they are going crazy, if the Anxi cabinet shop goes out of business, they ask who wants the money to go?

The front door of the Anxi cabinet shop in the west city was already crowded with three layers inside and three layers outside, and the merchants were so anxious that they shouted and squeezed into it desperately. On the door posted a closure notice, someone read aloud: "Due to the internal finishing, the Anxi cabinet will be closed for two months at the same time, some unfinished matters, temporarily entrusted to Wang Bao Ji cabinet to handle, where in the Anxi cabinet to save money merchants, can with the Anxi cabinet ticket and the deposit token, go to Wang Bao Ji cabinet to redeem the money, Wang Bao Ji cabinet will be paid in full in Anxi silver dollars, or wait for the cabinet to resume business, things are hasty, disrespectful, please bear with me!" ”

Knowing that Wang Bao Kee's cabinet could be exchanged for money, the merchant turned around and rushed to Wang Bao Kee's cabinet not far away, and in a moment, the door of the cabinet was crowded, and the shouts rang out.

Although Wang Bao Ji cabinet has been prepared, but a large number of merchants rushed to withdraw money or Wang Bao Ji guys are busy, it is no wonder that Anxi cabinet is the second largest cabinet in Chang'an, because it can exchange Anxi silver dollars, so it has attracted a large number of merchants to save money, only in Chang'an, the amount of money saved amounted to more than 400,000 yuan, Anxi cabinet shop every night, it took ten days to empty the treasury to save money, Anxi cabinet shop was temporarily closed, the run tide suddenly rose, thousands of merchants rushed to hear the news, It almost crowded the Wang Baoji cabinet shops in the east and west cities.

In the face of the surging crowd of cashers, Wang Baoji's men and shopkeepers were desperately defending their interests, and the voice of the shopkeeper Liu was hoarse, "It's always three hundred Wen, right!" Not a penny is missing. ”

The large supply of silver dollars made the ratio of silver dollars to copper coins fall to 250 wen per 1 to 1, but Wang Baoji refused to give in, always 300 wen, or don't mention the money, 'Wow! The five hundred silver dollars rolled into the bag, and handed them to a money-taker, who desperately squeezed into a corner, took out one silver dollar and blew hard, and put it to his ear and listened carefully, until the corners of his eyes showed his eyebrows and smiled, and then the money-giver carried the money bag and squeezed out of the store.

The closing of the Anxi cabinet and the run on the Wang Baoji cabinet are like a battlefield for the merchants of Chang'an, although it is also like a battlefield of life and death, but for most Chang'an people it is just a trivial matter, far less interesting than the story of the wind and snow, the talented and beautiful, and on the same day happened in the Bifeng Building of Pingkangfang, the incident of Zhu Xueniang Congliang marrying Zhou Zhengtao, a talented son of Xiangzhou, was a sensation and attracted all the attention of Chang'an people.

The run war of Wang Bao Ji cabinet shop is still surging, but the onlookers have dispersed one after another, all ran to the wine shop to inquire about Zhu Xueniang's story, about two hundred steps away from the Wang Bao Ji cabinet shop in the West City, there is a three-story wine shop, called to return to the wine shop, at noon, it is crowded with dining guests, there are also the victors who returned from the Wang Bao Ji cabinet shop to grab money, drink a glass of wine to celebrate their victory, the wine shop is noisy, the vast majority of people are talking about Zhu Xueniang's good thing, Zhu Xueniang's face and dance, delicate figure, is almost mythologized, and even whether Zhu Xueniang has received a guest or not, the drinkers are also red-faced.

But in a private room on the third floor, there is a topic that has nothing to do with Zhu Xueniang Congliang, there are three people in the room, one is Hu Yunpei, the intelligence head of Anxi in the Central Plains, sitting next to him is Miao Yi, a member of the Ministry of Rites, Miao Yi is a Han with broken leaves, and his family moved back to the Central Plains during the Kaiyuan Dynasty, he is also a member of the Han and Tang Societies, and is one of the few officials in the Han and Tang Dynasties who are officials in the imperial court.

And sitting opposite the two of them is the smelting department of the smelting department of Zheng Shaoyou, the smelting department is just a nine-grade sesame petty official, assisting in the management of the melting of gold, silver, copper and iron and other matters, although his official position is small, but he has some key information about Li Yu's issuance of new money, from the sitting posture of the three of them, you can see some clues, Hu Yunpei leaned on the soft mattress, seemed relaxed and leisurely, and grasped the initiative of this conversation, and Miao Yi was a foil for the bystanders, and kept holding the wine jug to persuade the two to drink, mediating the atmosphere in the middle, as for Zheng Shaoyou, he looked nervous, rubbing his palms from time to time, Leaning forward slightly, listening attentively to Hu Yunpei's every word.

Before Hu Yunpei met Zheng Shaoyou, he had sent someone to investigate his family background in detail, his mother was seventy years old, and there was an eldest brother who was sick at home, and there were three young children to raise, and the whole family relied on Zheng Shaoyou's little money to pay for two years, and the court owed him two years, so that his family was almost in a desperate situation, and a little land was sold, and now he relied on his wife to wash people's clothes, and Zheng Shaoyou once stole the edge material silver and was caught, and the boss did not punish him because of his pity, but his annual evaluation was thus lowered, There is no hope of promotion, and he will be fined for three months, based on this information, Hu Yunpei judged that this Zheng Shaoyou is an easy person to win for, and he can't give him too many benefits, and giving too much will scare him.

"General Li is kind to his subordinates, and there is no doubt about employing people, Zheng Zhicheng should also know the battle of Shibao City! All the soldiers who died in that battle, the general is still caring for their families, there are not a few, those who come to Anxi, are given land and tax exemption, and those who do not want to leave their hometown are given money and rice on a monthly basis, so most of his people are willing to die for him, I don't want to say more about these words, let's say this! If Zheng Chengcheng is willing to serve the general, we will pay Zheng Zhengcheng Chenglu every month according to the amount of the four officials of Anxi, and give Zheng Zhengcheng 3,000 silver dollars again, what does Zheng Zhengcheng think? ”

Zheng Shaoyou's inner ecstasy was unbearable, how could he be unwilling, the family was poor, the family was waiting to be fed, and now he got three thousand silver dollars, which was worth three thousand nine hundred yuan! There is also the monthly Houlu, his bitterness has finally come to an end, at this moment his heart is full of gratitude and loyalty, don't say to serve Li Qingan, even if he is allowed to die, he is willing.

"What do you need me to do, Mr. Hu, please speak."

Hu Yunpei saw that he had surrendered, so he smiled slightly and said: "Actually, our request is very simple, every three days, you have to write a report on the imperial court's coinage, and then someone will come to you, if there is an emergency, you must also report it in time." ”

"That's fine, I'll do it!"

Perhaps feeling that it was too easy for him to get money, and he was a little embarrassed, Zheng Shaoyou said again: "Actually, I have a very good relationship with Zhang Zhicheng of the Mint Bureau, and if Mr. Hu needs it, I can help contact him." ”

As soon as he said that, Zheng Shaoyou regretted it, it would ruin his chance, and he suddenly felt uneasy in his heart, but Hu Yunpei didn't seem to hear his suggestion, he was looking at the crowd of people in Wang Baoji's cabinet in the distance, and turned around and smiled faintly: "I want to know now, how much new silver has been minted in the imperial court?" When is it ready to be released? ”

Zheng Shaoyou's spirits perked up, he knew a thing or two about this, he hurriedly said: "The new silver coin has been minted 20,000 yuan, according to 1 to 50, this is 1 million yuan, if Mr. needs it, I can get two pieces." ”

"Yes! When will it be released? ”

Zheng Shaoyou thought for a while and said: "I don't know the specific issuance date, but I have been notified that five days later, that is, on the eighth day of November, the first batch of 20,000 silver coins will be officially out of the warehouse, and we need to be present for the final inspection." ”

"Five days later!"

Hu Yunpei smiled a little smugly, which was completely consistent with the news he got from other sources.

．．．．．．． In the imperial study of the Zichen Hall of Daming Palace, Li Yu was listening to the report of the fifth Qi in Duzhilang, and the noon sun spilled into the room, making the room extraordinarily warm.

In the past two days, his mood was quite complicated, mixed joys and sorrows, the good thing was that his father no longer cared about his government affairs, after the Hexi incident, because he did not follow his father's plan, the two had a big quarrel, and the result was that his father no longer cared about the affairs of the court, and the right to recruit troops was also handed back to him, as if he was completely left alone, which made Li Yu breathe a long sigh of relief.

But as soon as his father's matter went, his grandfather, that is, the former emperor Li Longji, woke up again, although he was not in a good state and couldn't speak, but after all, he had woken up, which made Li Yu's heart heavy again, as if a lead stone had been added.

Although his position in the East Palace was determined by the emperor's grandfather, he ascended the throne without the consent of the emperor's grandfather, without the emperor's grandfather's abdication edict, and even the clan did not agree, and then took a step back, even Yang Guifei, who regarded the same as the first emperor and queen, did not express her position, but was supported by the ministers to take the throne, so that there is a lack of legal theory, which is also the main excuse for the king of Shu, the king of Wu and the king of Jing to refuse to recognize him.

In fact, the accusation of the three kings is somewhat reasonable, according to the correct approach, it should be that he first supervises the country as the crown prince, and when the first emperor really dies, he can officially ascend the throne, but the emperor's grandfather has that kind of disease that he does not know about life and death, if he does not wake up for 20 years, he will not be able to supervise the country for 20 years?

It was under this consideration that he agreed to the request of the ministers and officially ascended the throne as the emperor, his only expectation was that the imperial grandfather would never wake up, or die, his father also hinted at him not long ago, half a year has passed, and the imperial grandfather can die of illness, just when Li Yu hesitated, the imperial grandfather suddenly woke up, so that the Tang Dynasty actually has two emperors, which will be an extremely embarrassing thing.

"Your Majesty!"

Pei Min, the household servant, was just about to speak, but found that Li Yu was a little distracted, so he reminded him in a whisper, Li Yu suddenly woke up, and smiled apologetically: "Pei Aiqing, please speak!" ”

In addition to the Fifth Qi and the Household Servant Pei Min, there were also Yang Guozhong, the Right Minister, Yang Shenyu, the Shaofu Supervisor, and Li Mi, a scholar of the Hanlin University, who were finalizing the specific measures for the issuance of new silver coins.

Since Li Yu decided to issue new silver coins, it has been opposed by many important ministers, especially the opposition of Pei Min, the head of the household department, is the strongest, he wrote to Li Yu three times, pointing out that this is a typical act of killing chickens and taking eggs, although you can get a certain amount of money in front of you, but this profit is the exploitation of the people, which will seriously affect the reputation of the imperial court's currency system, will cause prices to soar, and the people are not happy, echoing him, Li Yan, the secretary of the Criminal Department, also pointed out that the flood of silver money two years ago doubled the price of rice, and many middle and low-level households have been seriously affected, The re-issuance of inferior money will undoubtedly make matters worse, and may even trigger civil unrest.

Under the repeated opposition of the ministers, Li Yu had to make concessions, first, to reduce the issuance, to reduce the scheduled 300,000 pieces of silver to 200,000 pieces of silver, from the original 1 to 50, to 1 to 30, and to slightly increase the silver content of the second batch of minted silver coins to three silver, five copper, five leads, two, so that it basically conformed to the normal ratio of 1 to 10 silver coins.

The time of issuance has already been set, and on the eighth day of November, that is, five days later, the official issuance of the new silver coins will be issued, and the time of the issuance of the silver coins is very secret, and only a very small number of people know about it, so as to prevent the leakage of information in advance and cause chaos in the market.

But at this time, a new problem arose, Pei Min, the head of the household department, opposed the issuance of the first batch of silver coins, because the first batch of 20,000 silver coins was made according to the ratio of silver, copper, six lead, and three, and the silver content of one penny silver coin was too low, if it was one to ten, it was barely in line with the normal silver money ratio, but Li Yu insisted on following the compromised ratio of one to thirty, and resolutely refused to give in.

"Your Majesty, the minister is very worried that once the new money has a bad impact in the hearts of the people, I am afraid that no one will believe in the second batch of new money again, Your Majesty, don't be careless!"

At this time, the fifth Qi said: "Your Majesty, the minister and Pei Shilang have some different ideas, the minister has investigated, in fact, whether it is new money or old money, the people are unwilling, because the first two years of bad money flooded the people, unless it is to follow Anxi to issue a sufficient amount of silver dollars, but we can't do it, or to issue a big money, to one when fifty, the minister thinks that this is better than issuing silver money, because after the second batch of silver money is issued, everyone will gradually find that the silver content is not low, so that doubts will disappear over time, So it doesn't matter if it's first and last. ”

Li Yu thought about it for a while, and then asked Yang Guozhong: "What about Yang Xiangguo's opinion?" ”

"The minister supports Gorou's opinion."

Yang Guozhong was not very enthusiastic about the issuance of silver coins, which used to be Zhang Yun's territory, and now although Zhang Yun is not there, his mind is all on the adjustment of officials that will begin next month.

The reason why Yang Guozhong supports the fifth Qi is actually not related to the silver money itself, but because he doesn't like Pei Min, Pei Min is Li Qing'an's brother-in-law, a former member of the East Palace Party, and his relationship was very stiff, he still remembers that Pei Min once impeached him in front of Li Longji Yang Guozhong raised another housewife privately, so that he was severely reprimanded by Li Longji, and his beloved concubine was also forced to give it away, that incident made him always haunted Pei Min, so as long as Pei Min objected, he resolutely supported it.

"The minister also thinks that the money doesn't care about the old and the new, and it takes time for the people to get used to it slowly, Pei Shilang has repeatedly obstructed His Majesty's fund-raising plan, I think there is another hidden reason!"

After speaking, he glanced at Pei Min, his eyes were full of sneers, and it was necessary for him to remind the saint that Pei Min was Li Qing'an's brother-in-law.

"Yang Guozhong, you don't want to spew blood, the saint has just ascended the throne, and the people of the world are looking forward to it, I am to maintain the reputation of the saint, what is the secret?"

Pei Min gave Li Yushen a salute, "Your Majesty, the ministers are loyal and dedicated to the country, please enlighten Your Majesty." ”

"Pei Shilang misunderstood, Yang Xiangguo has no other meaning, don't take it to heart, I know that you are loyal, and I don't mean to blame you."

Having said that, Li Yu did suddenly remember that Pei Min was Li Qing'an's brother-in-law, and he felt a little uncomfortable in his heart, he groaned for a while, and asked Li Mi again: "What does Mr. mean?" ”

Li Yu actually supports Pei Min's opinion, but there is one thing Pei Min doesn't know, that is, Li Longji has woken up, if Li Longji recovers his health, and Li Yu is still so weak, Li Yu will fall into extreme passivity, Li Longji may not allow him to recruit troops again, so before Li Longji recovers his health, 100,000 urgently recruit a group of troops loyal to him, and this requires money, if the second batch of silver coins with high silver content is minted, it will be at least more than a month later.

It is for this reason that Li Yu advocated the immediate issuance of silver coins, the forced exchange of a batch of copper coins to recruit soldiers, and then the first batch of silver coins after the second batch of silver coins came out, so that the consequences would be slightly mitigated.

Li Mi nodded, "It takes too long to mint the second batch of silver coins, I'm afraid that something will happen, so the minister agreed to the suggestion of the fifth Lang Zhong and issued new silver coins according to the original plan." ”

Li Yu's attitude undoubtedly reassured Li Yu, he saw that Pei Min was still going to speak, so he interrupted him with a wave of his hand, and said in a tone that could not be opposed: "The issuance of silver coins, I have repeatedly asked for everyone's opinions, and the concessions that should be made have been made, and now there are only five days left, I don't want to make any changes, and I will not accept any more plans, so I decided to issue new silver coins as originally planned." ”

After speaking, he looked at Pei Min sternly, waiting for his statement, if he dared to say anything against it, he would immediately dismiss him, Pei Min sighed secretly, in fact, he still has a plan, that is, to borrow money from the big cabinet first, and when the second batch of silver coins is minted, use it back to the cabinet, in short, the first batch of silver coins must not be issued, and should be returned to the furnace for recasting, but unfortunately, he has no chance to mention it again.

"Obey the order!"

(To be continued)