Hearing this, Li Si and Fusu were a little silent.

After a while, Li Si said with some sorrow: "The prince's health has always been better than me and General Wang, and he was even able to fight with me in the court back then. ”

"In the past, let alone an autumn day, a change of temperature, even if the wind and cold entered the body, or was assassinated, you can quickly adjust your body."

Fusu also said: "I remember one year, when there was no unification in the world, when my father was worried about the world, the prince offered plans and traveled thousands of miles to separate other countries. ”

"I went deep into the barren land, and when I came back, I was seriously ill, and the imperial doctor even said that it was impossible for ordinary people to be cured if they contracted such a disease."

"But the prince only recuperated on the sickbed for two months, drank a few pairs of medicines, and was completely fine."

"It's just an autumn day, it's just a chill."

Speaking of this, Fusu's voice was already a little choked: "Why is this so? ”

Chen Ke lowered his eyes, and his expression was also a little sad.

The prince is Wang Xuan.

His feelings for Wang Xuan are actually not so deep, after all, when he came to Daqin, Wang Xuan almost took a back seat.

There was no direct contact with him, and there was not much intersection.

But Chen Ke still felt a gust of autumn wind and sorrow spreading out from the bottom of his heart, he looked at the autumn wind in the distance, and said silently: "The world is like this, the number of lives is like this, who can change it?" ”

He said with a reassuring emotion: "The prince is now at this age, and it would be a good thing, not a bad thing, if he could leave without much pain. ”

Chen Keqiang was in good spirits.

Although he brought up this topic, he still felt a little sad in his heart.

Since ancient times, the loss of a friend has been a major event.

........

Zhangtai Palace

Ying Zheng sat in the main hall, rarely not dealing with government affairs, but looking at the documents in his hand in a daze.

This page has been here for a long time.

Han Tan stood beside Ying Zheng, bent down slightly, waiting for Ying Zheng's orders.

I don't know how long it took, Ying Zheng's somewhat hoarse voice sounded: "Han Tan, how is the prince's body?" ”

Han Tan lowered his head, his voice humble and respectful.

"Your Majesty, the prince's health is already very bad, and the imperial physician sent to the palace Ling came back and said that it is estimated that it will be the work of the past few days."

Ying Zheng stood up suddenly, with a look of surprise on his face: "Why is it so fast?" ”

Han Tan just said: "Your Majesty, after the imperial doctor came back, he said that the prince's body was not as healthy as it seemed, and he had suffered too much typhoid fever and accumulated too many toxins when he was young. ”

"These toxins accumulate in all corners of the prince's body, which hinders the prince's lifespan."

"Now this wind chill has caused all the toxins in the body to crowd, and in an instant, it is like a flood breaking through the embankment, and the spirit of the prince is completely taken away at once."

Ying Zheng stood there, looking a little silent.

In fact, his relationship with Wang Xuan is not so rich, and even Wang Xuan, an old man, proposed to divide the seal a few years ago when he was just unified, which is different from his political views.

But now that he heard the news of Wang Xuan's imminent death, his heart was still a little heavy.

Because he suddenly discovered something.

Li Si and Wang Jian are not young.

Ying Zheng's sorrow was because he saw what might happen to Li Si, Wang Qian, and the people who accompanied him to build this unified empire from Wang Xuan's departure.

This is what makes him so sad and so painful now.

Even this vaguely contains some of his worries about his body, although he often practices the boxing technique given by Chen Ke, but the problem is that he has reached this age.

Can it really prolong life?

Since the departure of the two clan elders of Chuanyang Gong, Yingzheng was once again forced to face the question of life and death.

.........

Whether you want it or not, whether you hope for it or not, whether you look forward to it or not, winter is coming.

The sudden drop in temperature and heavy snow indicates that winter has entered a certain stage.

Because of the previous harvest in Penglaizhou, the people of Daqin lived very comfortably this winter, at least much more comfortably than before.

Two years ago, Chen Ke, who discovered the coal mine, had already handed over this thing, and recalled several places rich in coal mines in his mind, and asked the First Emperor to find someone to explore and excavate.

In the beginning, the amount of coal excavated was certainly not much.

But slowly, it became more and more.

Over the course of these two years, these coal mines were slowly but surely transported to various parts of the world according to the distance, starting from different counties, and then handed over to the Municipal Property Department.

Today, the Municipal Property Department is gradually becoming larger.

It includes part of the right of market supervision, part of the right of state-owned enterprises, and part of the right of agricultural production.

The directors of the municipal property offices in various places have gradually become more powerful figures in the county, and their status has gradually increased, which is an inevitable thing that will happen with the accumulation of power.

But the director of the Municipal Property Administration was not arrogant, because he knew very well that when the Municipal Property Department continued to swell a little, the butcher's knife of the law would be cut down on them.

Just like the Baijia Palace back then.

In the past, it was a collection of schools, political institutions, research institutes, etc., but now it is divided into three places: the university, the education department, and the research institute, and each institution inherits a part of the rights.

This is what they will come after.

Therefore, the directors of the municipal property department are not arrogant, because they are afraid that when they are divided in the future, someone will fall into the ground.

When winter came, the municipal property departments began to sell "coal".

Coal has just appeared in Daqin, and the price is very high, at least not something that ordinary people can afford.

Of course, this thing was not originally aimed at ordinary people, and his sales targets were rich businessmen and wealthy aristocrats.

Three silver coins are a pound, and a pound of coal can burn for about two hours.

This is a very high price.

After all, although Daqin's economy has developed now, the people can also make money.

However, silver coins were still only available to the nobles.

One stone of grain is fifty copper coins, and one stone is one hundred and twenty catties, which is enough for a normal adult man to eat for a month.

If this conversion is not accurate enough, there is another way to do it.

In terms of the amount of money that each adult man can exchange.

Now that the economy of Daqin has developed, if it is hard work, such as moving things or something, each adult man's daily salary is twenty copper coins; If it's some technical work, such as literacy to be a guy or something, the salary for a day is about twenty-five to thirty copper coins.

A silver coin is a hundred copper coins, and a pound of coal requires an adult, literate man to work for more than ten days, nearly half a month.

And a pound of coal can only burn for two hours.

The gap between rich and poor has always existed and has never disappeared.

However, the sale of coal is also a good thing for ordinary Qianshou.

Because the aristocracy began to use coal, the price of firewood gradually decreased, and now it has begun to appear.

Originally, the price of a pound of firewood was about twenty copper coins, but now it has been reduced to fifteen copper coins.

In the past, it was only possible to exchange one pound of firewood for one day of work, but now it can be exchanged for nearly two pounds of firewood for one day's work.

And that's a lot of money coming down.

When the temperature was just getting lower, the nobles began to burn coal, after all, the money was not a big deal for them, mainly because they were able to enjoy the warmth of winter, the same temperature as spring and autumn.

This is a good thing for the aristocracy.

The leaders began to hoard firewood, and every winter there would be the coldest time, and they hoarded firewood in order to be able to burn it for warmth in the coldest time, so as not to freeze to death.

And when the leaders were hoarding firewood, they discovered a very strange thing.

According to common sense, if they hoard firewood like this, the price of firewood will increase, which is human nature and people can understand.

The best-case scenario is to maintain the original price.

Because coal is being used, the price of firewood is decreasing.

It is common sense to increase while decreasing, and in the end the increase is higher than the decrease.

But now.....

The price of firewood has not increased, not only has it not increased, but it continues to decrease.

Half a month ago, it was fifteen copper coins, and now it is ten copper coins, and it is even continuing to decrease.

The leaders began to be confused.

But they were well informed, and they soon learned that not all merchants were willing to let them through the winter.

It's because there's a group of people watching over them.

Who?

People from the Municipal Property Department.

Not long after the winter came, coal sales began to go on sale, and the price of firewood had just dropped, and the people of the Municipal Property Department were ready.

When the leaders began to grab firewood, some of the wealthy merchants felt pity in their hearts, so they were not ready to raise the price, but the other part of the wealthy merchants began to exert pressure, hoping to increase the price of firewood and make a good profit.

The wealthy businessmen who united were very powerful, and those who did not want to raise the price at first began to be squeezed out.

Just when the two were at a stalemate, someone from the Municipal Property Department appeared.

As soon as it appeared, it just overturned the table without making any sense.

They arrested that part of the wealthy businessmen and took out Qin Law.

"Qin Law, People's Livelihood Law, Article 38: Those who raise prices and take advantage of the danger of the people shall be sentenced to different criminal laws depending on the type of goods that raise the price."

"Anyone who raises the price of basic necessities of life by one-tenth shall be sentenced to five years' imprisonment; Those who raise one-half shall be sentenced to death, and their descendants shall not be allowed to participate in the selection of scribes, participate in the literary selection competition, or enter universities in various regions for two generations."

"Whoever raises the rest of the articles by one-tenth of the price shall be fined fifty silver coins, and whoever increases one-half shall be fined fifty gold coins."

This Qin law was promulgated in the summer of this year, and at that time, Li Si and Chen Ke thought that in winter, even if there was coal, there would still be businessmen who wanted to increase the price of firewood.

In exchange for more money to be able to buy coal.

Of course, their purpose is not only that, they simply want to profit from the people.

When businessmen and capital came into the world, they carried dirty blood from head to toe.

Therefore, for businessmen who raise prices, especially businessmen who raise basic necessities for people's livelihood, Chen Ke and Li Si were very cruel when they formulated regulations.

One tenth is sentenced to five years in prison, and if it is increased by half, it will be directly killed, and there is a certain limit on the offspring.

Coincidentally, the market price of firewood was ten copper coins a catty, and in order to make money, these merchants directly raised the price to twenty-five copper coins a catty, which was even more expensive than before the advent of coal.....

They are not worried that no one will buy their firewood, because the rest of the people who do not increase the price have limited firewood in their hands, and those Qianshou must buy it in order to survive.

This price hike has been more than one-half, or even more than double, almost three-fold.

There is nothing to say, he was directly sentenced to death by the local county guard, and then handed over to the imperial court for approval and review, and after the review is completed, it will be transferred to Xianyang City, and he will be beheaded after the autumn.

When they heard the news, the businessmen were full of horror and incredulity, with blank looks on their faces.

They started to get scared.

So he kept praying, constantly wanted to bribe officials with money, bribed people from the Municipal Property Department, and even bribed the county guard, the county officer, the general judge, etc., etc., and even asked his family to go all the way to Xianyang City with money to find the court lieutenant to intercede.

But when their families came, they despaired.

Because they knew a message.

All convicts sentenced to more than five years in prison and to death are subject to confiscation of all family property.

They have now become poor and have become chiefs.

One by one, the rich businessmen wailed in the prison, and they regretted it.

And those wealthy businessmen who have not raised prices are constantly stroking their hearts, feeling fear and pain.

They started to get scared.

.........

Winter is coming in such an atmosphere.

The night before he arrived, Zhang Han returned with the news that South Vietnam had been completely defeated, and that his horse was tied to a strange man, like a barbarian, who had tattoos on his body, like the gods they worshipped.

Zhang Han turned over and dismounted, with a look of respect and excitement on his face: "General Qiyu, Zhang Han lived up to the trust of His Majesty, the Prime Minister, and the general, and defeated South Vietnam!" ”

On this winter day, a major hidden danger in the south of Great Qin, Dongyue and Nanyue in the Hundred Yue, were attacked and became part of Daqin.

At the same time, the people of Huiji County received a large amount of firewood.

Enough for them to use firewood for a super long time.

and a forest stocked with firewood.

..........

In the East Palace

Fusu was sitting in the main hall, and the coal was burning.

He looked at the government documents in his hand with a satisfied look on his face.

"Teacher, maybe I've found my way."

In the past, Fusu, like other nobles or rulers, did not regard the head of the Qians as the common people of Great Qin.

But now, he feels that it is his way to protect the world's talents.

Whether it is the head of the Qian, the common people, or the nobles.

Tyrant both!