What a joy!

In the afternoon, Mama Wang brought people in, a twelve or thirteen-year-old boy, wrapped his hair in a square cloth scarf, wearing a half-new short jacket, stone blue pants, and a sweat towel wrapped around his waist, with a long face, delicate eyebrows, looking very shy, and angry with ideas, his eyes were clear, and he was sensible.

Jia Shi felt that it was a pity, so he didn't feel much embarrassed, but said, "I also think for my sister's sake, thinking that you are her brother, and she will always have to use people in the future, so I am willing to promote you now." ”

Wang Xie had already helped Daiyu do two or three things, and he had heard his mother say that if he could follow his sister to do things in the future, it would be a way out, so he quickly knelt down and thanked him.

This matter was decided, and when Lin Lu led the people to set off, Daiyu took out all the money she had saved on weekdays, about forty or fifty taels of silver, and handed it over to Qingxu, and wrote the names of some key local celebrities on paper, "Try your best to do it well!" ”

Qingxu took it to Mama Wang, and only said, "Take this silver, since you are going out to see the world, a poor family is rich, and you have a money on your body, if you don't say anything else, you have to be bolder." There is one more thing, and I have to ask my brother at home to help me. ”

"What's the matter, where do you need to say it so politely?"

Qingxu didn't say that Daiyu dreamed, only said himself, "I had a relative in my family, when I was a child, I heard that my family said that I lived in Gusu, there is a street called Shili Street in the gate, there is a Qingren Lane in the street, there is a gourd temple in the alley, I know when I ask, a family surnamed Zhen who lives next to it is a eunuch, and it was originally my relative." ”

"The girl wants to ask my family association to help inquire about this person's family, is it okay?"

"But that's not it? I can't remember how many years since my father left. I don't even know how many people in his family there are. Who knows, these days, I actually dream every day, the girl of his family called me a sister, saying that I was abducted and sold by a kidnapper on the day of the Lantern Festival this year, and now I am in Yingtianfu, ordering me to save her, do you say strange? I didn't want to pay attention to it, because I couldn't sleep well every day, and second, my life was at stake! ”

"Really, whose child is not the meat of the parents' hearts? I have written down what the girl said, and I will give an explanation to my son, and if he is going, he must first go to the gourd temple to ask. ”

When Qingxu said this, Daiyu was next to her, and she was very satisfied with Qingxu's words.

Salt politics has always been a major event in the court, because the salt profits account for half of the annual income of the national treasury, and because the price of salt has risen several times, the emperor has made several clear decrees, but they have no effect, and the profits and silver paid are not as good as in previous years. Yun Zhen and the princes stood in the Dongnuan Pavilion of the Jingde Palace, listening to the emperor and the cabinet ministers discussing the matter of the two Huai salt affairs.

"Now, over there in Lianghuai, there are many nest merchants, and there are countless merchants, according to me, these merchants are only afraid that they are the ones who fill their pockets in the salt administration, how many people have close contacts with you, don't think I don't know!"

Several cabinet ministers shouted in their mouths that they had been wronged, knelt down, and kowtowed. But the emperor's expression was still not good, he sat cross-legged on the kang under the south window, a pair of eyes full of dragon power kept tracing on the black gauze hats on the heads of the cabinet ministers, about this coercion is also extraordinarily heavy, so that the seniority is a little lighter, and the sweat beads are already rolling down on the forehead, dripping on the red felt lichen on the ground.

On the Lianghuai side, after Yun Zhen finished his homework today, he also asked the master. His master used to be the emperor's childhood enlightenment teacher, and now that he is older, he is still invited into the palace to enlighten several young princes.

"First, the stove households set up stoves to fry the salt, and the market merchants bought the salt from the stove households and sold it to the shipping merchants. Originally, there was no such thing as a carrier. Although they do not operate the salt industry, they have occupied the nests for generations. There are also some unscrupulous descendants, who have lost their ancestral industry and are unable to traffick, so they lease the nest to a merchant without a nest to transport and sell salt, and there is a saying that the merchant has it. ”

The old gentleman just said the general situation of this, and pointed to the end, and did not say much about the key, but said, "It is better to read ten thousand books than to travel thousands of miles, if Your Highness is interested, you might as well check it out yourself, it is much clearer than the old minister's mouth is full of lotus flowers, and he spits and flies." ”

Yun Zhen was detailing the matter when he heard the emperor ask, "Is the chief merchant over there still Wang Qing?" He is also a skilled person, I still remember that day in Yangzhou, Yun Ning once joked that being the son of a salt merchant is more blessed than being my son......"

The eldest prince already knelt on the ground with a puff, not daring to say a word, his face was covered with black blue, and his back was soaked in cold sweat.

The emperor has always been kind to his sons, even the elders of the pavilion, and he refused to let his sons have no face, raised his hand to signal the eldest prince to get up, and said, "You are right, born in my family, since the age of five enlightenment, and then apprenticed to study, every day three more sleep and five watch, where can I catch up with the children in those salt merchants, even if they read, it is just 'cooking tea and pouring ink to write poems, reading rain and listening to the wind and asking nature', you don't have to ask about the economy and people's livelihood." ”

"The ministers are terrified!"

The emperor didn't bother to listen to these elders, and waved them down. In the East Warm Pavilion, only the father and son of the monarch and the minister are left, just after the Dragon Boat Festival, there is no ice in the house, occasionally a cool breeze passes under the window, the emperor beckoned the prince to come forward, "On that day, I went down to the south of the Yangtze River, its wealth and luxury, I once sighed, Yangzhou or Jinling, it is really a good place." ”

The eldest prince knelt down and played, "But father, the Son of Heaven guards the country, and the king dies!" ”

"Just remember! The first emperor and I went to the south of the Yangtze River, and the two Huai salt merchants undertook errands, so far I want to come, for hundreds of millions of dollars, I am happy, every time the court uses money, donations are also from the salt merchants, those salt merchants live a luxurious life, profligacy, even if the salt profit is better than other merchants, but there is always a limit. I think about it all the time, am I thinking wrong? Salt politics is the country's great plan, this time, I sent you to help me take a look, see clearly, the two Huai salt industry is very important, it is a major matter of the national economy and people's livelihood, I have to think of a way. ”

The emperor said ambiguously, and the eldest prince did not dare to ask, so he knelt down and thanked him, "The son will be loyal and filial, be the eyes of his father, and see the salt industry clearly." ”

The Emperor waved his hand, "Go!" As he spoke, he closed his eyes, looking really tired.

Yun Zhen went out with the princes, among the princes, he belonged to the youngest, and he was following behind, before he crossed the threshold and was stopped by the emperor, "Little eight, stay for a while." He asked again, "Jiangnan Shen Xiaoqing, can your mother tell you?" ”

Yun Zhen stayed and replied respectfully, "The mother concubine once said that Shen Xiaoqing is today's great Confucian, when he was the champion, he was not a weak crown, and the emperor's grandfather once said, 'This Qing will be the first famous scholar in Jiangnan in the future', he has lectured for the people all his life, taught outside the palace walls, educated in the countryside, established a school for heaven and earth, established a life for the people, and the saint descended to the prosperous era, which is the work of the father!" ”

The emperor couldn't help but be amused, knowing that he had said these words, and he didn't know where he learned them, but he was also half right, and couldn't help laughing, "You have also learned to compliment your father?" Since you say that he is a saint of the day, I will send you to Jiangnan and invite him to the court! ”