I was drunk last night and forgot to update it......

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"Is the marshal's head cramping?"

For Zhang Mai's western tour this time, except for those in the military who worship Zhang Mai as a god, there is almost no one in the government and the opposition who do not object!

Even Yang Dingguo was furious with Zhang Mai, who repeatedly refused to listen to persuasion.

As one of the leaders of the Six Seals, the person in charge of the "Dai Wanmin Seal", and the oldest national elder with the highest status and the oldest qualifications in the Tiance Veteran Army, he almost spit saliva on Zhang Mai's face, but he still couldn't change Zhang Mai's decision.

In early April, Zheng Wei and Zhang Yi arrived in Yanjing with a large group of officials, and he took the waterway, the road from the north entrance of the gorge to the Elechuan and then through Yunzhou.

Zheng Wei was also against Zhang Mai's westward tour, and the letter could not stop him, so he advanced the date of the eastward trip. As a result, Zhang Mai seemed to avoid him, and went south to Yedu before Zheng Wei arrived in Beijing - he took the southern road, preparing to walk all the way from Yedu - Luoyang - Guanzhong.

As the person in charge of the "Tang Dynasty Prime Minister Seal", as soon as Zheng Wei arrived in Yanjing, he announced the merger of the East and West Hubs, and since then the temporary seal tailored for the East Pivot has been abolished, and Zheng Wei naturally became the head of the ministers, and under the entrustment of the ministers, he brought the East China Prime Minister Seal to Xishan to see Guo Fen.

After Guo Fen took back the seal of the Prime Minister of East China, he pointed to Li Fang, who was holding the jade seal of the country beside him, and said: "He said that he would leave, but he just left this Laoshizi and said that if there is anything, let me make up the mind for him." If I can't make up my mind about government affairs, I will consult the gentleman of the Hanlin Academy. In terms of military affairs, if I can't make up my mind, I will send someone to Dingliao City. ”

Zheng Wei frowned, Zhang Mai said. It was clearly an authorization, and he asked: "What about the two golden seals?" ”

Guo Fen said: "He took it all away." ”

Tiance Datang is now the supreme six-seal system of two copper, two jade, and two gold, two gold seals, the "Tiance General Seal" is in charge of military affairs, and the "Tianke Khan Seal" is in charge of border affairs.

Zheng Wei said: "Forget about the border affairs, at most transfer it to him." If he wants to go to the Western Regions, he will definitely seal all the tribes at that time, and he should also carry the seal of the Heavenly Khan. But Admiral Tiance also took the seal away, in case something happens, how to mobilize the army? According to the regulations he had just issued, the seal of the Privy Council could not be moved by generals above the governor level and the army above the military district. ”

Guo Fen said: "I also asked him like this, and he said that nothing will happen in the past two years, in case something happens." It can be signed by the chairman of the court and then stamped with the seals of the east and west houses. ”

Zheng Wei said unhappily: "After all, it is not right and unspeakable!" ”

Guo Fen sighed and said, "I really don't know what he's going to do this time." He just asked me to act cheaply. ”

The two chatted about state affairs for a while, and Guo Fen said quietly: "Although he is willful, Xue Shanya is also really ruthless, in order to accompany him, he even left a pair of children and threw them to Zheng Xiang to take care of." Zheng Xiang has just arrived here, and the water and soil have not yet been served. I haven't been feeling well for the past two days, so I'll remember to go see your sister later. Take care of her when you have time. ”

Zheng Wei said: "The two pivots have just merged, how can I have time now." It's just to take a look. ”

Guo Fen said: "Then I'll take her up the mountain to live." You are concerned about your official duties, but you also have to think more about your own affairs. You are now my Tang Tsukasa, and you have always been single, too unreasonable, just like this time. If you have a sister-in-law, you can help take care of Zheng Xiang. ”

Zheng Wei's expression darkened slightly, and he said goodbye and went down the mountain.

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Excluding the Luoyang War, which had almost no great impact on the economy in the eighth year of Tiance, Hebei and Shandong can be said to have been at peace for three years, and the tax exemption order in the first year gave the people a sigh of relief. The peaceful development of the following two consecutive years has given the people a little savings in their families. And the original Xishu side has also accumulated three or four years of harvest, so Tiance Datang has no big problems in terms of food.

With the opening of trade routes and the prosperity of maritime trade, the release of limited commercial land in Yanjing New City and Tianjin New Town alone has brought back a huge amount of money for the Tang government.

So the crux of the problem lies in personnel, originally there was a set of people in the east and west hubs, and many departments almost completely overlapped in function, but they were divided into two pieces in terms of geographical management, and now they want to reorganize the two classes into one class, which will take Zheng Wei a lot of energy and wisdom.

Power this thing, it's easy to put it down, it's difficult to take it back, whoever gets it won't let go, the East Hub was set up at the beginning, it was originally a cheap act taken in response to the rapid expansion of the territory, it stands to reason that the West Hub is the real center, but in the past two years, Zhang Mai has stayed in the East for a long time, close to the source of power, the natural power of the East Hub is getting heavier, and there is a faint tendency to seize the master, and now Zhang Mai suddenly ran away again, and threw the stall to Zheng Wei, who held the seal of the Prime Minister, and the shape shì was reversed.

Although the merger of the two hubs is the trend of the times, it also has to face the problems left over from history. During this period, some people will inevitably be happy and some will be sad, and those who are happy are those who still retain their main positions, but those who are worried are those who have become deputies or are released, and even Fan Zhen is not very accustomed to it.

The negative effects brought about by the adjustment of the two pivots, coupled with the incident of Zhang Mai's western tour, and the harmony between the two sides, have cast a layer of haze over the political environment that should have been extremely bright in the ten years of Tiance. Some rumors came out of nowhere, and soon attracted a lot of discussion in Yanjing, and the aftermath affected the entire Hebei.

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Zhang Mai didn't know these things, his people had already arrived in Yedu.

On this western tour, he brought a lot of men and horses, the Chinese army is 5,000 people in the Modao Battle Axe Formation, on the left is 10,000 Longxiang Iron Armor Army, on the right is 10,000 Yingyang Iron Cavalry, in front is 3,000 cavalry led by Wei Fei as the vanguard, and behind is 3,000 people in the sweat and blood cavalry regiment led by Ma Humeng, in addition to 9,000 other horses, a total of 40,000 troops, marching south. This scale is simply elite, and compared with the last expedition to Luoyang, there are only hundreds of thousands of fewer people.

It is also a pity that Zhang Mai did not do extravagance and waste similar to silk paving along the way, otherwise the second name of Emperor Yang of Sui would definitely not be able to run.

Rao is like this, and Shilin is also extremely worried. Zhang Mai's arbitrariness in this matter. Let many people see the shadow of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty - thinking about how wise and martial Yang Guang was back then, in terms of meritorious deeds, the current Zhang Mai is only afraid that there are still places that are not as good as Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, and in terms of national strength, today's New Tang Dynasty is not as good as the heyday of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty. At that time, it was also the world's guest service, and at that time it was also the Siyi Dynasty, and at that time, the monarch also traveled to the Western Regions regardless of the advice, and then conquered Goryeo, when the national strength was exhausted, the state collapsed and went out of control!

Fortunately, Zhang Mai did not disturb the people, nor was he extravagant and wasteful, and all places along the way only needed to provide grain and grass, and the current financial situation of Tiance Datang was not difficult.

The army marched on the official road. The army marches during the day, camps at night, and is not allowed to go out, and those who violate the order are beheaded! Only in Yedu, Zhengzhou, and Luoyang did they stay for three days, and the soldiers took turns to go out of the camp to relax their nerves.

The soldiers and horses drove to Tongguan, Guanzhong suddenly became nervous, and the direction of Chang'an City was obviously moved, and Liu Zhiyuan clearly thought that Zhang Mai was coming to crusade against him - even the people of the world thought that it should be so.

The results were a big surprise. Zhang Mai didn't!

After the 40,000 troops passed the Tong Pass, they swaggered over from Weibei.

Zhang Mai met Murong Chunhua in Yaozhou. He met Guo Wei in Fengxiang again, inspected the troops of the two, and then traveled west along the way, and then arrived in Qinzhou, stopped for three days, and passed through Lanzhou. After stopping for three more days, I finally arrived in Liangzhou.

When the army arrived in Liangzhou, the men, women and children in the city supported each other, and almost poured out of the city under the leadership of Zhang Yunwen to meet their marshal!

There were tears in everyone's eyes. Zhang Mai is also very emotional, I don't know when Liangzhou has become his "hometown", although the wind rises in the Western Regions, but all the old departments of Anxi have taken root here!

When he arrived here, not only him, but also the old people of Anxi, even if they had moved their family business to Yanjing, they all had a feeling of going home.

He ordered the whole army to be disbanded in turn, and Zhang Mai also stopped here, and accompanied the sick Princess Fu'an with Zhang Yunwen.

On the second day of the first month of June, I was going to continue to move forward, but considering the scorching heat and Princess Fu'an's illness recurred, Zhang Mai ordered to wait for the weather to turn cold before continuing to hurry.

It was not until the end of July, when the autumn wind rose, that the western tour team set off again, all the way, passing through Gansu, Su, melon, and sand, and stayed in Dunhuang for more than half a month.

At this time, after a large number of people moved out of Shazhou, the area was not as prosperous as it was at the beginning, but it also had a rare peace.

Li Shengtian, the lord of Khotan, heard that Zhang Mai was coming, and personally rushed to the court to meet him, and this day was August 15. At the beginning, Tiance and Khotan were allies, but now Li Shengtian, as an old man, also claimed to be a subordinate when he saw Zhang Mai.

After Weng and his son-in-law got together for ten days, Li Shengtian said goodbye and continued westward with Zhang Mai, taking Tianshan South Road, meeting An Shoujing in Yizhou, and then continuing all the way west.

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After Zhang Mai's western tour team passed the Yumen Pass, rumors grew like weeds like crazy, today some people say that Zhang Longxiang was assassinated on the Silk Road, next year some people say that Zhang Longxiang fell ill in Hexi, and two days later it will be said that there is a plague in the Western Regions.

All in all, there are all kinds of rumors.

Cao Yuanzhong noticed that the source of the rumors seemed to be partly related to the old officials of Shi Jin who were defeated in the election of officials, and some of them may be inseparable from foreign forces, and those who have been unsuccessful recently are happy to spread rumors, but he is in charge of the military affairs of the Privy Council, and he can't go to the market to arrest people, so he issued a document and invited the government academy to discuss it with the supervision of the Taiwan court.

After Zheng Weidong came, the central system of Yanjing became more and more perfect, and in terms of government, there were Zheng Wei's consul generals, and Zhang Yi, Fan and Li Nuan were in power, all of whom were in a high position and were in a strong position.

On the Privy Council's side, because of the weight of the commanding forces, according to the regulations, a civilian official who is familiar with the military needs to be in charge, and cannot be held by a military commander with outstanding merits, so although Tiance is invincible in the military and has a large number of famous generals, the position of privy envoy is vacant, and there are only two deputy privy envoys who are in a marginal position in the military, and they are completely unable to compete with Zheng Wei in terms of momentum.

In addition to Feng Dao, there is also a martial arts scholar Ding Hanshan, a business bachelor Naibu, and a law scholar Zhang Zhongce on the side of the Hanlin Academy—this was added by Zhang Mai before leaving. Among them, Naib is a big businessman of mixed Hu and Han descent and Han family blood is already very small, that Zhang Zhongce is not well-known in Shilin, but he is the first batch of veteran judges in Liangzhou area, with nearly ten years of law enforcement experience, is upright, and adjudicates cases strictly. He was respected by the local fathers.

Zhang Zhongce is also forgotten, although he has no literary name, I heard that he was still a scholar before becoming a judge, and the descendants of the grass saint Zhang Zhi were sent, and the Central Plains Shilin was barely able to accept it. But for the warriors and merchants to enter the Hanlin Academy, Yanjing Shilin's reaction was extremely fierce. thought that this was insulting to Swen, and Feng Dao also had a lot of complaints, but Zhang Mai ignored their objections, and told Feng Dao his plan: in the future, in addition to the scholars in charge of the Hanlin Academy, there will be one or two bachelors of science in each subject, and the bachelor of arts in culture is only one of them, and the others include not only martial arts bachelors involved in the military, but also law bachelors involved in law. Bachelor of Engineering in Industry, Bachelor of Commerce in Business, Bachelor of Agriculture in Agriculture, Bachelor of Mathematics in Mathematics, Bachelor of Medicine in Medicine, Bachelor of Science in Physics, etc.

As the top academic level, the Hanlin Academy is so divided into disciplines, and it is also the same as a school at all levels under construction. The school is used to cultivate talents, and scientific research is used to select talents. Only then did Feng Dao know that Zhang Mai was going to establish the imperial examination. It is no longer different from the imperial examination that focused on poetry, articles, and policy arguments in the past, and the imperial examination is really divided into imperial examinations - in fact, this is the original meaning of "imperial examination", the imperial examination of Sui includes "talent and generals" (military) and "brawn and strong" (martial arts), and the imperial examination of Tang includes Ming Law (law) and Ming arithmetic (mathematics), but in the later development of each subject was abandoned. Let the Ming Jing and Jinshi two subjects be important to the world, and in the end, the Jinshi Department is dominant, and the "branch of the scholars" becomes "the Jinshi scholars", which is the disaster of the world.

As one of the few contemporary university scholars, Feng Dao naturally understands this evolution of the imperial examination. Knowing that Zhang Mai's decision is "retro" in a sense, but it has promoted innovation in the retro, so there is no fierce opposition.

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In the autumn of the tenth year of Tiance, Cao Yuanzhong inadvertently initiated this court meeting, which was the first formal court meeting in the history of Tiance Datang after the court rules were formulated, and even the seats in the court council were planned in a polite system - the people of the Government Council sat in the east, the people of the Privy Council sat in the west, the people of the Hanlin Yuan were in the northeast, the people of the monitoring station were in the northwest, and the south was reserved for the correction and evaluation system.

The east wood is in charge, the west is in the gold, the king is in the north, the people are in the south, and the two sides of the king are the co-ribs, and the Chinese culture is broad and profound.

Those who attended the meeting included the four ministers of the Government Council, the two deputy privy envoys of the Privy Council, the head of the Hanlin Academy, the three scholars of the Council, and Wei Renpu, the imperial envoy of the Supervision Desk. There were four main seats in the meeting, the Son of Heaven position, the Wanmin seat and the Great Sima seat were all vacant, and Zheng Wei on the prime minister's position became the chairman of this court meeting. Hallym Institute is a consultant system, and the monitoring desk is a monitoring system, both of which are subsidiary.

Cao Yuanzhong, who was in the position of young Sima, as the initiator, said about the recent events, hoping that all parties would contribute to suppress the rumors.

"Press? How to press? ”

It was Li Nuan who was in power who spoke, he was very sensitive, and he didn't know about this time, but if he did it, it would be Hebei Shilin who would be implicated the most, so he didn't want the matter to expand. Although he decisively stood on Zhang Mai's side in the later period of the tax exemption order incident, it did not mean that he betrayed Hebei Shilin, on the contrary, that incident was just a reshuffle of Hebei Shilin.

Cao Yuanzhong said: "Behind this rumor, there is the intervention of foreign forces, I mean to track down the source and monitor suspicious people." ”

Li Nuan said: "Is there any evidence? ”

Cao Yuanzhong frowned: "Rumors come and go without a trace, and we can only rely on various inferences to determine it." But who is loyal and who is traitorous, even if there is no evidence, we actually know it in our hearts. ”

Li Nuan said: "Whether it is loyalty or treachery, guilt or innocence, we must pay attention to evidence." If there is no empirical evidence, it is unwarranted. To use the country as a trumped-up sin just because of a rumor is to hinder the way of speech! The mouth of the people is more important than the Sichuan! Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, I have never heard of anyone who sinners for their words. ”

Fan Zhen was also reluctant to make a big move, and said: "The rumors stop at the wise, the marshal's western tour this time, all parties did not agree, and now it is natural for people's hearts to be disturbed, we can't appease people's hearts, forget it, if we open the road to prison because of this, I am afraid that it will open a bad start for future generations!" ”

He is also in power. But the ruling is also in order, as the former head of the East Pivot, there is a deeper foundation in the entire Central Plains Shilin, so that after the merger of the two pivots, Zhang Yi, who is more qualified, sits in the second position, and the weight of what he says is naturally much heavier than that of Li Nuan, who is at the end of the reign.

Cao Yuanzhong will initiate this court meeting. I thought it would be very smooth, but I didn't expect to start and hit two hard stones.

Zhang Yi is from the northwest, and he is not deeply entangled with Hebei, so he glanced at Fan Zhen Li Nuan and said: "We Datang do not have the habit of sinnering people with words, but this time, in my opinion, it is not so simple." I heard Lu Shumi's recent story that this rumor has a lot to do with Sang Weihan. This man's heart is not dead, and his whereabouts are unknown after the siege of Luoyang, but several clues point to his still contacts with the Khitan. Now that the marshal is gone, if someone is secretly making trouble, then it should be treated with caution. ”

Lu Jialing nodded and said, "According to the report, Sang Weihan is likely to be hiding in Chang'an. In the past few years, the marshal has ruled the world with leniency, and there have been frequent business and travel exchanges, and we dare not say that he has completely cut off his contact with the outside world. It's not just the Khitan. Even if I was facing the inside, there were many people who looked at Sang Weihan. ”

Cao Yuanzhong said: "Sang Weihan colluded with the Khitan. These people also colluded with Sang Weihan, how is this matter different from treason? If the punishment is not tightened, how can it be deterred! Especially those who slaughter for officials, they can't be tolerated! ”

Fan said: "The power of internal supervision of officials lies in the monitoring platform, what does Wei Zongxian say?" ”

Wei Renpu said: "As long as there is evidence." I'll take care of it myself. ”

"Evidence, evidence! How can there be evidence! Cao Yuanzhong said: "These people will be so stupid to leave evidence? It's all verbal, and if I can get the evidence, what will I do with this court meeting, and I'll be arrested directly! ”

"There is no evidence. That's just speculation after all. Wei Renpu said: "Our monitoring station is not your Privy Council's secret, without evidence, we can't arrest people!" He turned his head and asked Zhang Zhongce, "Master Zhang, did you say that?" ”

Today, Hallym Academy is divided into three levels: Bachelor of Scholars, Bachelors of Politics and Ordinary Bachelors. As long as you can enter the door wall, you will be called a bachelor, and the number of places is not limited, but each subject has one or two bachelors of political science, and only the bachelor of political science is eligible to enter the court.

As a bachelor of law and politics, Zhang Zhongce is upright and cautious, and said without any position: "According to civil law, this is true. ”

Ding Hanshan said: "But according to military law, as long as it involves national security, these people should be monitored." ”

Feng Dao suddenly intercepted: "Cao Shaosima also said just now, there is no empirical evidence yet, that is to say, whether these people really colluded with foreign forces is still unknown, before the determination, it is better not to make people panic." ”

Although the Hanlin Academy is an advisory body, if it is not a practical institution, it will not be involved in practice, but Feng Dao is the head of the Hanlin Academy, which is equivalent to recognizing his status as an academic leader in the world, which is very noble, and he is the general adviser of the Son of Heaven.

Cao Yuanzhong sneered: "If we say that, we can only let the rumors run rampant? ”

Feng Dao said: "Now that the Central Plains is settled, people are at peace, and the marshal has pacified the troubled times, from the hundred officials to Li Shu, everyone's life is better than that of Shi Jinshi, not to mention the Khitan rule." Seeing that the prosperous era is coming, if there are many people who want to return to Shijin, or want to be slaves under the iron hooves of the Khitan, the old man does not believe it. Therefore, the rumors in front of me are at most just a handful of well-intentioned people who have nothing to do, and they can't set off any big waves. As long as the town is quiet, the rumors will disperse over time. We don't need to mess around and make trouble if we don't have anything to do. ”

Cao Yuanzhong said coldly: "If the marshal is in Yanjing now, I will treat these rumors as a piece of bullshit heard on the street!" But now that the marshal is in the northwest, it is inevitable that some scum will take the opportunity to rise. That's why the Privy Council mentioned that we should guard against the slightest! ”

Li Nuan said: "Speaking of which, the marshal should not be on the western tour, otherwise there would be no such things." ”

Ding Hanshan shouted violently: "Li is in power! What do you mean! This court discussion is a rumor, not for you to criticize the marshal behind your back! ”

Li Nuan said coldly: "What is the criticism behind it!" When the marshal was still in Yanjing, I said the same to my face! ”

Seeing that the rumors were unresolved, and several aspects of the court were about to make trouble, Zheng Wei said: "Shut up for me!" His voice was not loud, but the audience fell silent. He is not only the head of the Government Council, but now that Zhang Mai is absent and the Son of Heaven is absent, he, as the prime minister, as the chairman of the court, also has the power to interfere in the important affairs of the military through the court.

Zheng Wei said: "Now that everyone knows the opinions of the individuals attending the meeting, do you have anything else to say?" ”

Almost everyone in the meeting spoke, except for Naib, who was silent and shook his head.

Zheng Wei said: "Since Cao Shaosima initiated the court meeting, there must be a way to deal with it, and it is said that he will participate in the discussion. ”

Cao Yuanzhong said: "I thought this matter must be handled strictly. First, all officials involved in rumors will be suspended from their posts and investigated and dealt with by the Privy Council's spy department......"

Before he finished speaking, Li Nuan had already sighed, and Fan Wei Renpu was also very dissatisfied.

Cao Yuanzhong ignored them and continued: "Second, this time, whether it is news transmission or rumor dissemination, all of them are carried out through guò merchants, so the five markets in Youzhou, Tianjin, Yedu, Luoyang, and Kaifeng must also be investigated!" If there are merchants involved, they will be strictly investigated and dealt with, so as to set an example for the chickens! ”

Naib couldn't help but sigh, he originally planned to be silent until the end of the meeting, but he didn't expect that the matter would involve his head - in this court meeting, if Zheng Wei is not counted, he is the only representative of the merchant class, if the court council finally makes a decision that is not conducive to the interests of the merchant class and Naib does not say a word, he will be scolded to death if it is passed out.

Cao Yuanzhong said again: "In the end, we have to follow the vine, pull out the last leader of the rumors, and make a little deterrent." I estimate that the final source is either Chang'an or Liaodong, if you don't react a little, others will think that the marshal is not there, and they can do anything wrong! ”

Feng Dao said: "Your last one, do you have to use force?" ”

Cao Yuanzhong said: "There is no need for a big action, but we also need to let Guo Wei Murong Chunhua warn Liu Zhiyuan, and let Chai Rong Yelu An warn the Khitan!" If someone in Taiyuan and Xuzhou is involved, you might as well take the opportunity to accept them. ”

Feng Dao said: "In this way, I am afraid that there will be a commotion in the world." ”

"Not necessarily!" Ding Hanshan said: "The harder our position is, the more charming and ghostly will be afraid, and the world will be stable because of this." ”

Zheng Wei said: "Come one by one, the first article of Cao Shao Sima Jianyì, what do you think?" ”

Wei Renpu was the first to veto: "No! Supervision officials, from top to bottom, there is my monitoring desk, and from bottom to top there is a correction and evaluation desk! There is no empirical evidence, and officials must be investigated and prosecuted only by speculation. I definitely want to say no! In case today's court discussion is passed, even if I pull it to the correction platform and hand it over to the world's public opinion, I will never teach this discussion to take place! ”

He reacted so violently, Fan Zhen and Li Nuan also seconded it, Zhang Zhongce also felt that this matter bypassed the law, it was very inappropriate, Feng Dao nodded yes, so Cao Yuanzhong's motion, except for Lu Jialing and Ding Hanshan, could not find support, and even Zhang Yi abstained.

Zheng Wei said: "Cao Shao Sima Jian's second article, what do you think?" ”

Wei Renpu said: "The businessman is cheap, and it has nothing to do with my supervision station. ”

Feng Dao looked at Cao Yuanzhong's face and was not angry, knowing that he had just been frustrated and unhappy, he had just entered the Heavenly Strategy, and was about to form a good party, so it was not good to appease him, and said: "The marshal has indeed indulged those businessmen too much in the past two years, I think it should be checked." ”

Seeing that Fan Zhen and Li Nuan didn't speak, as if they were about to acquiesce, Naib was anxious, and said: "There is no country in the world that treats merchants better than Datang, so there is no reason for merchants to be treason at all." ”

Li Nuan said: "As far as the general trend is concerned, this is true, but for some people, it may not be! Since ancient times, businessmen have been short-sighted, and in order to pursue immediate benefits, they don't want their lives, let alone the country. ”

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—————————— (To be continued......)