"Ke'er, what's so alarming?" Concubine Yang asked with some displeasure. She was not angry that Li Ke suddenly broke in, but seeing Li Ke so panicked, she lost her royal dignity.

Li Yu took a few breaths before he spoke: "Mother, just now my grandmother and aunt instructed me to let me build a small Taoist temple next to my grandfather's mausoleum, and then they will practice in the Taoist temple, and by the way, they can also guard the tomb for my grandfather and uncle." ”

As soon as Li Ke's words came out, Concubine Yang also stood up in shock, if it was just Princess Nanyang here, it would be fine, but I didn't expect that even Queen Xiao would stay here and not leave, with her age, I am afraid that she would have made up her mind to die here.

"Mother, let's go and persuade my grandmother, although Yangzhou is good, but there is no one who can take care of her old man, in case there is any accident, then ......" Li Su also continued, but the following words were not finished, obviously disagreeing with Queen Xiao living here.

"Let's go, let's go check it out!" After Concubine Yang was shocked, she sighed and said. She knew Empress Xiao very well, and knew that since the other party proposed to live here, she must have made up her mind, and with the other party's temper, it was almost impossible to change Queen Xiao's mind.

The mother and son came to the courtyard where Queen Xiao lived, and as soon as they walked to the door, they heard a girl's cry inside, and they knew that it was Cai'er without asking, and there was an old voice whispering to persuade something, listening to the voice should be Xiao Yu.

followed Concubine Yang into the house, and sure enough, she saw Queen Xiao sitting on a chair, Cai'er was crawling on top of her and crying, and Xiao Yu was standing aside. With a heavy face, she persuaded Empress Xiao, hoping to dispel her idea of staying in Yangzhou. But look at Queen Xiao's determined look. Obviously, Xiao Yu's persuasion had no effect.

Seeing Concubine Yang and Li Su coming in, she didn't wait for them to speak. Empress Xiao immediately spoke: "Jiu Niang, you came just in time, presumably Ke'er has already told you about the matter, I will live here for a long time in the future, but Cai'er will trouble you!" ”

Seeing that Empress Xiao was the first to gag her mouth, this made Concubine Yang know that her mother-in-law had made up her mind, but she still said: "Mother, the scenery here in Yangzhou is extremely beautiful. It's indeed a good place to cultivate, but after all, there are no reliable people here, if only you and your sister live here, there is no younger generation to take care of, which makes my daughter unbearable? ”

Li Su also said at this time: "Grandmother, what the mother concubine said is exactly what your grandson is worried about, if you and your aunt don't want to go back to Chang'an, then it is better to go to Dengzhou with me to live for a few years, and then your grandson and Wenxin will take care of you." And with the ugliness with you, you must not feel bored in the day! ”

Hearing Li Su mention ugliness, Queen Xiao was also a little moved, and Princess Nanyang, who had not spoken, also persuaded at this time: "Ninth Sister and Liulang are right. Mother, if you are old and your daughter is the only one to take care of you, I am really a little worried. So it's better to go to Liulang's Mansion to live for a while, and my daughter can guard the mausoleum here alone. ”

Xiao Yu and the others also saw that Empress Xiao had been a little shaken. immediately rushed up to persuade Queen Xiao, especially Cai'er cried and begged Queen Xiao not to leave her. After all, after her father's death, Empress Xiao was her closest elder.

Seeing that the juniors were unwilling to stay in Yangzhou by herself, Empress Xiao finally had to sigh and said slowly: "Okay, since you all said so, then I will go to live with Liulang for a while." ”

Everyone wanted to breathe a sigh of relief when they heard this, but they heard Queen Xiao continue: "But Yangzhou can't stop here, Ke'er, you still have to find someone to help me and your aunt build a Taoist temple, and after it is built, I will come back from Liulang and concentrate on accompanying their father and son here!" ”

Everyone didn't expect Empress Xiao to be so determined to stay in Yangzhou, although she promised to go to Li Su to live there for a while, but in the end she still had to come back. Originally, Concubine Yang and the others wanted to persuade again, but they were stopped by Xiao Yu with his eyes, after all, he, as a brother, knew that since his sister had said so, it would be useless for others to persuade him, so he simply agreed for the time being, and let Queen Xiao go to Dengzhou to live for a period of time, maybe she would change her mind then. And even if you don't change your mind, as long as you take care of your body in Dengzhou, there is no problem to come back and live in Yangzhou.

Concubine Yang also knew that Empress Xiao had made up her mind, and coupled with Xiao Yu's stop, they had to sigh and stop dissuading, but after leaving, Yang Jun secretly instructed Li Ke and Li Su to let Li Ke delay the construction progress of Yangzhou as much as possible, and Li Su tried her best to please Queen Xiao, and it was best for her not to remember what happened in Yangzhou.

For the mother's instructions, Li Ke and Li Su naturally agreed, but Li Ke's task is not difficult, but Li Ke is different, wanting to please Queen Xiao is also Li Su's strength, but it is a great difficulty to make Queen Xiao happy, after all, there are husbands and sons buried here in Yangzhou, how can they forget?

Because of Yang Xuan's funeral, everyone was tired, so Li Ke and Li Su brothers arranged for everyone to live in Yangzhou for a period of time, but Li Su did not rest, after settling everyone down, he immediately went to Shanghai by boat with Li Ke, from Li Su proposed to build Shanghai City to now, it has been a year, and in this year, Li Su has not been here once, so he wants to take this opportunity to see how the construction of Shanghai City is?

Shanghai is located at the mouth of the Yangtze River, backed by the prosperous land of Suzhou and Hangzhou, which can be said to occupy the geographical advantage. Since Li Su, the king of Qi, was determined to build a new city here, Xie County's order of Huating County ordered people to post recruitment notices and start recruiting workers in the name of the county government, and these recruited craftsmen were paid monthly wages, as for these wages, they were naturally all from Li Su's Qi Wangfu.

As soon as this notice came out, countless farmers in Suzhou and Hangzhou and other places rushed to apply, after all, now the silk industry of Datang is squeezed out of some living space by cotton cloth, Suzhou and Hangzhou here is the first to bear the brunt, many farmers who plant mulberry and raise silkworms have no livelihood, rather than starving at home, it is better to come out to buy a handful of strength, although the wages earned are not much, but saving a little can also feed a few people.

So when Li Su rushed to Shanghai City, he saw a construction scene in full swing, with countless people digging mud on a port, and building a deep-water wharf here little by little. On another wharf that had already been built, there were countless merchants gathered, and the ships in the sea covered the entire sea, and even from time to time there were collisions between ships entering and leaving, but fortunately, the speed of the ships in this port was not fast, so there was no accident of capsizing.

Li Ke on the ship looked at the busy Shanghai city in front of him, and introduced to Li Su very proudly: "Liulang, now Shanghai has built three docks, and three more are under construction, and when all the docks are completed, the congestion situation here in the port can be solved." ”

Hearing Li Ke's confident words, Li Ke was also very relieved in his heart, although Li Ke was very talented in the past, but he has not been able to give full play to his talents, and now the construction of Shanghai City has just given him a platform to show himself, and his words are full of unprecedented confidence and maturity.

"Second brother, how much is the resident population of Shanghai now, and what about taxes?" Li Su looked at the busy and chaotic Shanghai dock and asked Li Ke with a smile. Li Ke has nothing to worry about the construction of Shanghai's hardware, after all, in addition to Li Ke, there are many architectural officials sent by the imperial court, and there is naturally no problem with them to help design and plan, and now he is concerned about the development of Shanghai's software.

After hearing this, Li Ke recalled a little and replied: "Although the city of Shanghai is only half of the port, the facilities in the city are still to be improved, but because of the favorable geographical conditions here, it has attracted a lot of maritime merchants to trade here, and the cement roads leading to Shanghai have also been built almost, so the goods from all over the vicinity are slowly gathering in Shanghai, and now the population in the city is extremely mobile, although there has been no special statistics, but according to our preliminary estimates, It should fluctuate between 200,000 and 300,000 people, and as the process of urban construction accelerates, it is expected that more and more people will be in the future. ”

Speaking of this, Li Ke paused for a moment, and then continued: "As for taxes, taxes such as household taxes are not counted, after all, the main tax revenue in Shanghai comes from the port, and during the time I came to Shanghai, the total tax revenue in Shanghai in the spring reached 100,000 guan, and as time goes by, the number of ships trading in Shanghai will increase day by day, so the total tax revenue this year is expected to reach 500,000 guan." ”

Now that Shanghai has just started, and even half of the most important ports have been built, it can already collect 500,000 yuan in commercial taxes, and if the entire city is completed, it is estimated that the tax revenue of one million yuan a year will not be able to run away.

And the tax of this million guan is mainly port income, when Shanghai will have shipbuilding, textile, food and other industries, these industries together, can provide tax revenue will not be less than the port, so if the whole city develops, the annual tax of two million guan should not have any problem, so that it is almost compared to Dengzhou, after all, Dengzhou's annual tax revenue is only three or four million guan, if it is time, Shanghai's tax revenue exceeds Dengzhou is not impossible, After all, the location here in Shanghai is really good.

While the two were talking, their boat had already entered a dock, because there were too many boats, and their boat was big, so they bumped into the surrounding boats to find a berth, and the group could finally get off the boat. (To be continued.) )