"This ...... The subordinates don't know, anyway, there are no copper coins. ”

"Not to mention the merchants in the city trading, even many people pay taxes with grain."

Ma Jian said with a wry smile.

Hearing him say this, Zhuge Liang, who was proficient in internal affairs, instantly realized the seriousness of the problem.

As soon as copper coins are missing, society will revert to the backward way of bartering.

Bartering is too cumbersome and cumbersome, and the circulation efficiency is too low!

It's like Shu Han giving out money to the ministers of the imperial court, and when there were enough copper coins in the past, copper coins could be issued.

The ministers took the copper coins and went directly to the bazaar to buy the supplies they needed.

But now there is a shortage of copper coins, and the imperial court can only directly distribute grain and cloth to the ministers.

In this case, it is necessary to prepare a large amount of food and cloth.

Not only that, but also to free up a special house for stacking, find a special person to take care of it, inventory.

After receiving the things, the ministers had to go to the market to exchange the salt and vinegar and other supplies they needed.

It can be seen from this that the lack of copper coins is extremely troublesome!

"Have you ever reported this to Your Majesty?"

Zhuge Liang asked in a deep voice.

"My subordinate sent a letter to His Majesty a few days ago, but His Majesty ...... him."

Seeing that Ma Tan wanted to speak and stopped, Zhuge Liang also understood.

After ascending the throne as emperor, coupled with Cao Wei's delay in attacking, Liu Bei seemed to be a little carried away.

Recently, I have been drunk and dreaming of death in the palace every day.

Considering that it was approaching the end of the year, it was the time to relax and rest, so Zhuge Liang did not persuade Liu Bei

It's just that he didn't expect Liu Bei to be so indulgent that he didn't even read Ma Yan's book.

"Let's go, I'll take you into the palace to meet Your Majesty!"

Zhuge Liang stood up as he spoke, took Ma Jian with him, and went straight to the palace.

After asking Liu Bei where he was, he and Ma Jian had just walked outside the hall gate when they heard the sound of pipa and bamboo coming from inside.

Liu Bei sat in the high seat, drinking hot wine and enjoying the dancing of the singers in front of him.

Seeing the excitement, he stroked his palms and laughed,

"Dance well, be rewarded!"

"Come on, give each of these singers a thousand dollars!"

As soon as Zhuge Liang came in with Ma Yan, he heard Liu Bei's words, and he almost died of distress.

Now that the treasury is short of copper coins, Liu Bei directly gave a team of singers a thousand dollars each, which is too loser, right?

"Prime Minister, I'm here, sit down quickly and enjoy the dance with me!"

Liu Bei, who was drunk, greeted with a smile.

"Your Majesty has been too addicted to pleasure these days, and some of your government affairs have been wasted!"

Zhuge Liang's face was straight, and he said seriously.

"The prime minister is a little too serious, I just relax and relax."

Liu Bei smiled, not taking Zhuge Liang's words to heart.

"But Your Majesty is so drunk and dreaming of death, what is the difference between it and the Xia Wei merchant in history?"

Zhuge Liang said mercilessly.

Listening to him compare himself with the faint monarch in history, Liu Bei broke the defense in an instant!

Liu Bei's face sank, and he shouted,

"Presumptuous! I've fought all my life, can't I enjoy it? ”

"Give it all down!"

Zhuge Liang scolded the singer on the side, and waited until they all went down, and then he was right,

"Your Majesty shouldn't know yet, now the copper coins in our Yizhou are almost gone!"

Liu Bei was stunned for a moment, frowned and said,

"What do you mean by that?"

"Youchang, tell Your Majesty what you have discovered!"

"Whoa!"

Ma Tan stood up and told Liu Bei about the reduction of Yizhou copper coins to the point of bartering.

Although his internal affairs ability is far inferior to Zhuge Liang, Liu Bei also realized the seriousness of the problem after listening to it.

His wine sobered up a little, and he looked at Zhuge Liang and said,

"Prime Minister, do you know why?"

"The minister doesn't know, it's better to get everyone together and discuss it together."

Zhuge Liang proposed.

"It's okay, according to what the prime minister said, you can quickly go and invite Da Sima and them over."

Liu Bei commanded.

"Command!"

Ma Tan walked away quickly.

After he went out, Liu Bei was a little embarrassed and said,

"My attitude just now was not good enough, and I hope that the prime minister will not go to his heart."

Liu Bei knew in his heart that his achievements today were inseparable from Zhuge Liang.

He has already driven away a Yang Ziyi, so he can't drive Zhuge Liang away.

"How can the minister go to his heart? It's just that the minister wants to exhort His Majesty that it is not impossible to relax appropriately, but it must be done in moderation. ”

Zhuge Liang persuaded.

"I've written it down!"

Liu Bei nodded solemnly.

It didn't take long for Ma Jian to go and return, and behind him were Fa Zheng, Zhang Song, Sun Qian, Jian Yong and others.

Without waiting for Liu Bei to speak to Zhuge Liang, he saw that the face of the law was grim and authentic,

"Your Majesty, the minister recently inspected the surroundings of Chengdu, and suddenly found something wrong!"

Liu Bei was stunned for a moment, temporarily put the shortage of copper coins behind him, and asked,

"What's wrong?"

"In the fields around Chengdu, many people have given up sowing grain, and it's time to plant mulberry hemp!"

"What? This...... Why is that? ”

Liu Bei was slightly stunned.

"After the courtier's inquiry, someone offered a high price to induce them to abandon the cultivation of hemp."

Fa Zheng explained.

"What is there to worry about these people who are insatiable and deceived?"

Zhang Fei said disapprerovingly.

"The general is a little ignorant, and the people who abandon the cultivation of hemp...... There are a lot of them. ”

Fa Zheng smiled bitterly.

"A lot? How many can there be? ”

Zhang Fei still didn't care.

"In the vicinity of Chengdu alone, more than 30% of the fields have been abandoned for cultivation of hemp."

"I heard that the situation in other counties seems to be even more serious!"

As soon as Fa Zheng's words came out, everyone present gasped!

Although Yizhou is a country of abundance, most of it is mountainous and difficult to cultivate.

There is not much land that can be cultivated.

Thirty percent of the fields are abandoned for hemp, which means that the next year's grain harvest will be reduced by three percent!

This is not a huge trouble for Shu Han, who is short of food!

"Why didn't the people below report such an important matter?"

Liu Bei was shocked and angry.

"Your Majesty, have you forgotten that the officials below are all ......?"

Zhuge Liang coughed lightly and did not continue.

But the people who could be present today, except for Zhang Fei, were all smart people, and they immediately understood what he meant.

After all, people like Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang are outsiders, even if they add Fa Zheng and other Dongzhou factions, they still seem to be weak.

Although they control the upper power of Yizhou, the power of places such as counties and counties is still controlled by the local scholars in Yizhou.

The two sides did not deal with each other, and the Yizhou Shi clan has always been against the yin.

If it weren't for Fa Zheng's inspection of the surroundings of Chengdu, I'm afraid that until now, Liu Bei would still be kept in the dark!

"No, where did the people get so much money to induce them to abandon the cultivation of hemp?"

Zhuge Liang suddenly reacted and asked in a deep voice.