The sun in the middle of summer scorched the earth. It doesn't matter if it's 2,000 years ago, or 2,000 years later.

Parched.

It seems to always be synonymous with summer.

And this day!

The hundreds of officials of the Han Dynasty, up to the three princes and nine kings, down to the officials and pawns, were all waiting on a street in Chang'an City.

Prime Minister Shi Zhu Maichen wiped the beads of sweat overflowing from his forehead, unbuttoned his clothes slightly, and complained, "On such a hot day, let us stand here, is it a human thing?"

Prime Minister Shi Biantong also chimed in: "Who said it wasn't!"

Another Changshi dynasty even said: "Your Majesty is comfortable, living in the Jianzhang Palace, avoiding the heat, and leaving us courtiers outside to bask in the sun."

The three long histories, you said a word, and suddenly the prime minister standing in front of me was a little impatient.

Back.

glared at the three Changshi, and scolded: "Shut up, Your Majesty is the son of the Han Dynasty, is you able to slander?"

The three elders immediately lowered their heads and closed their mouths stupidly.

Looked at.

Prime Minister Li Cai then withdrew his gaze.

After all, it was his subordinate bureaucrats, and it was impossible for Li Cai to impeach the three of them for such a thing.

A verbal reprimand is enough.

Then.

Bian Tongtong slapped the dynasty with his arm and gestured to the dynasty.

After Wang Chao understood what he meant, he patted Zhu Maichen on the shoulder again, and then gestured to him to Li Cai, the prime minister standing in front of the three of them.

Zhu Maichen became an official late, so he is older than both of them.

Seeing the two of them's eyes, they immediately understood what they meant, so they stepped forward and said to Prime Minister Li Cai, "Prime Minister Li, Your Majesty has asked us court officials to take the lead in donating money, so as to make an example for those wealthy businessmen."

"But I didn't say, let's donate how much."

"So the buyer can't help but ask here, how much money is the prime minister going to donate?"

Li Cai glanced at Zhu Maichen.

For this subordinate bureaucrat who is as old as himself, it is obviously different from the other two long histories.

I saw him stretch out his right hand, make a gesture similar to "nine", and say, "Don't plan to donate too much, just this amount."

Zhu Maichen suddenly frowned and asked, "The prime minister said that he is ready to donate 900,000 yuan!"

"Copper coins?" Prime Minister Li Cai immediately shook his head and said, "What is the identity of the prime minister, can I donate those things, what I want to donate is 9,000 gold coins, horseshoe gold!"

Zhu Maichen listened.

An expression of surprise and confusion appeared on his face.

Surprised.

He didn't expect the prime minister to be willing to hemorrhage and donate so much. The question is, why donate 9,000 gold?

Forthwith.

Zhu Maichen asked puzzledly, "Li Xiang, you have donated all the 9,000 gold, why don't you make up the whole and reach 10,000 gold?"

"Wanjin? Will you give me a thousand gold?" Prime Minister Li Cai snorted softly.

To say.

This Zhu Maichen is aware of current affairs, and even said: "If Li Xiang needs it, Maichen will find a way to get together a thousand gold for the prime minister."

Talking

Zhu Maichen turned around and was about to leave, ready to collect the remaining 1,000 gold.

However, Li Cai grabbed him, shook his head slightly, and said, "Eh, Zhu Changshi, what do you want you to do with this thousand dollars, just wait, you will know the old man's intentions immediately."

Thereupon.

Zhu Maichen just nodded and said, "Yes, Prime Minister."

And at this time.

Prime Minister Li Cai glanced at the other two Changshi again and asked, "How much are the three of you going to donate?"

The three elders glanced at each other, and then replied awkwardly: "I'm strapped for the house, and I can't come up with so much money, so just prepare one or two thousand dollars."

"One or two thousand? Hmph!" Prime Minister Li Cai snorted lightly and said, "

The three of them should be "congratulated", resign from this official position as soon as possible, and don't wait for His Majesty to come back and clean you up."

The three Changshi were suddenly shocked.

Will the donation be picked up?

This is in line with the temper of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty Liu Che, what kind of funeral treatment is ineffective, fund-raising is at a loss, and other reasons to demote officials to commoners, there are too many cases.

Immediately.

Wang Chao said, "It's not so poor, the family still has some connections, you can donate one or two million!"

Prime Minister Li Cai continued: "Don't donate so much, if you donate too much, you will be targeted!"

Changshi Zhu Maichen suddenly frowned and asked, "But didn't Your Majesty say that you donate a lot, and don't you ask us where the money comes from?"

"Oh, Maichen, are you on your first day as an official?" Prime Minister Li Cai snorted softly.

This way.

Zhu Maichen immediately surrendered his hand and said, "It's Maichen who is confused."

While a few people were talking, those people in Langya Pavilion finally walked out and stood on the stage.

Thereinto.

After the champion Hou Brother Huo Guang and the head of the bus exchanged a few words, everyone saw the Gong of Bianqiu Jiang take out a piece of paper and read, "The wind is blowing.... The clouds are flying!"

"Wega is back home!"

"Ande warriors are guarding all directions!"

"Our dynasty, since the founding of Emperor Gaozu, has been blessed by the Son of Heaven, the wind and rain are smooth, and the country and the people are safe."

"Now that there are natural disasters and droughts, and there is no crop harvest in the northwest region, we officials should take the lead in donating, gather wealthy businessmen to contribute wealth, and the people to provide grain, so as to tide over the difficulties with the people of the Han Dynasty in the northwest."

"Below."

"Sang Hongyang is responsible for calculating the amount of money donated, and Hou Han of Long Zhe is responsible for deploying the Yulin Army to guard the disaster relief money."

After a chatter.

Finally, it's time to donate.

The officials in the audience were already dry from the scorching sun, and they couldn't wait to donate money and go back to the house to rest.

And at this time.

Long Zhehou Han said that he also walked out with a group of Yulin troops and pushed the wooden cart.

Then.

Han Shuo nodded to Jiang Gong, and Jiang Gong continued, "This disaster relief fundraising was initiated by His Majesty. Your Majesty is the son of heaven of the Han Dynasty, and he is also the father of all the people, and the father of the monarch should take the lead in donating money during the drought in the northwest."

"Sang Shizhong, remember the amount of money donated by His Majesty."

The words fell.

Sang Hongyang, who was on the side, shouted loudly and said, "Your Majesty donates money, 10,000 gold!"

Subsequently.

The Duke of Bianqiu Jiang nodded and said, "The prime minister is the head of the hundred officials and the head of the three dukes. Next, please donate money to give a good start to the hundred officials."

When Li Cai heard this, he immediately signaled a few slaves to bring up the horseshoe gold that had been prepared.

After Sang Hongyang counted for a while, he chanted loudly: "Prime Minister Li Cai, donate 9,000 gold!"

Nine thousand gold!

That's definitely not a small amount.

To know.

Horseshoe gold was the finest currency in the Han Dynasty, and its purchasing power was definitely not comparable to copper coins.

And after Li Cai donated money.

Jiang Gong continued: "Imperial Doctor is one of the three princes, and his status is second only to the prime minister and the prince. Because I have been idle for a long time, I will directly ask Zhang Yushi to donate money."

The words fell.

Zhang Tang, the imperial historian, carried a few copper coins and walked on stage.

Then in front of everyone, he handed the money to Sang Hongyang.

Sang Hongyang took the money!

After another period of counting, he shouted loudly: "Imperial Doctor Zhang Tang, donate 3,000 yuan!"

Three thousand?

After this number was reported, the officials below were in an uproar.

The three dukes of the court.

I actually donated 3,000 dollars!

But this is not as unexpected as everyone expected, after all, the imperial historian Zhang Tang has always been

He is honest and honest, and he has no home at home. If he comes up with money comparable to Prime Minister Li Cai, then there is a problem!

And it's good to go down in Zhang Tang.

Jiang Gong shouted again: "Taichang is the head of Jiuqing, below, please..."

「.......」

After all the officials of Erqian Shi Yulu have reported their names and come up to donate money.

Behind.

This is the real target of this donation - wealthy businessmen.

Businessmen value profit over parting!

But no matter how heavy the profit is, at this moment, you must have a lot of bleeding. In order to lure those businessmen to donate money, Huo Guang stood up directly and said loudly: "Here Le Restaurant, this time I will contribute 2 million to the disaster in the northwest!"

The words fell.

Sang Hongyang also shouted: "Chang'an Le Restaurant, this time for the disaster in the northwest, pay 1 million."

The two of them finished speaking.

In Chang'an City, there are two other restaurants left, and they are also shouting for 500,000 yuan.

Don't donate.

No!

Unless these businessmen don't want to do business.

But at this moment, Jiang Gong said on the stage: "Merchants are different from court officials, we don't force merchants to donate money, everything is just personal will."

Well.

That being said.

But any businessman who has been ordered by Huo Guang in private, dare to try the end of not donating money?

Unless his entire family doesn't want to do business anymore.

This donation was busy from morning to evening, and the money was towed away by a simple wooden cart.

As for security?

There is a Yulin army led by Han Shuo around to guard, and no one dares to mess around in Chang'an City.

At night.

Sang Hongyang, Huo Guang and others began to count the number of donations received on this day.

It wasn't until the middle of the night that the approximate amount was sorted out.

- Twenty-three million dollars!

Well.

This is the approximate amount that includes the conversion of the horseshoe gold into money in those fine currencies.

Wait until the next day.

Huo Guang, Sang Hongyang and others, after finishing this matter, were hurriedly sent into the palace by His Majesty to inquire about the situation.

Emperor Liu Che of the Han Dynasty saw the two of them coming in, and hurriedly asked, "How much money was raised by donating money yesterday?"

Hear the words.

Sang Hongyang, who was good at calculating words, hurriedly said, "Back to Your Majesty, the total amount of money is more than 23 million!"

When Emperor Wu of Han heard this, he was also shocked and said, "How can you raise so much money?"

"Huh!"

"If it weren't for the disaster relief in the northwest, I really wanted to take these two million more than three million as military salaries, and immediately attack the Xiongnu Shan Yu who was cowering in the depths of Mobei!"

"These black-hearted businessmen are still rich!"

"That's it."

"When there is no money to fight the Huns in the future, let's collect money from these merchants!"

Liu Che, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, seemed to have tasted the sweetness at this moment.

Yesterday, I just collected a huge amount of money from a wealthy businessman, and here, I actually thought about collecting the money of the wealthy businessman in the future.

But that's right.

Who makes the merchant rich?

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was so happy and loved to fight.

But fighting a war costs a lot of money.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was short of money, so he didn't pay attention to these wealthy and unkind merchants.

But at this moment.

Huo Guang didn't dare to disturb the interest of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Liu Che, and when he finished explaining the matter, he withdrew from the palace.

Later time.

He went out of the city and began to build furnaces made of dirt. The servant who followed him asked, "Huo Ah Lang, what are you building so many earthen stoves for? I'm going to burn those clay pots!"

"Many? I still think it's a little less!" Huo Guang snorted.

Build an earthen stove

, naturally, to fire something special.

As for clay pots?

He didn't need it.

When the stove was almost set up, he went to search for enough wheat straw, pine branches, and other items to burn, and at the same time got a lot of clay.

First of all.

Huo Guang had the clay crushed and sieved by hand, leaving a fine pure soil.

And then.

The pure clay is shaped into a very simple cuboid, which is the shape of a brick.

Finally, it is slowly calcined in a furnace.

When the fire in the furnace gradually went out, what was burned out was the familiar red bricks, which were what Huo Guang needed.

In ancient times, most of the houses were made of wood.

This is not the house that Huo Guang is pursuing.

Because the ancient houses were extremely afraid of fire. The most famous is the Afang Palace of that year, which is said to have been ignited by Xiang Yu and burned to the ground.

Infrastructure!

Huo Guang must have wanted to build a house with red bricks.

This saves a lot of wood and is easy to do. It would be too time-consuming to continue to build houses in the ancient way.

He had already helped Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to complete the collection of money and property for the disaster in the northwest.

Therefore, in the later time, it is to enclose land in four directions around Chang'an City.

The purpose of the enclosure is to build houses, and bricks are needed for the construction of houses, which can save a lot of trouble.

Wait for the bricks to be fired.

Huo Guang tested the quality for it, and felt that it was okay, and its hardness was enough.

Thereupon.

Then people began to burn in large quantities.

There are bricks.

Then one of the most important things needed to build a house is cement.

In fact.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, China had its own "cement", which was made of glutinous rice slurry with grass ash and other things, and its role was not much worse than that of modern cement.

But here's the thing.

In this era, where can you get so much glutinous rice slurry?

It's better to burn ordinary cement by yourself.

Of course.

Huo Guang can also choose not to use cement, but directly use clay to build. In the early countryside, there were not even red bricks, and the adobe bricks of the city were made from straw, and the excavated houses were piled up little by little with the soil.

This is actually a question worth pondering.

How easy and trouble-free is it to build a house with clay and bricks? But if the cement is fired, the effect is great.

It's just that the cement is not easy to fire!

Especially the iron ore in it.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty salt and iron official camp, in terms of iron ore, even if Huo Guang was given ten guts, he would not dare to mine it privately.

Instead, you can try to use the iron slag produced after smelting.

It's something that no one wants.

Just when Huo Guang was thinking about these things, he arranged for the land slaves in the northern part of Chang'an City to hurriedly find them, and they all had blue noses and swollen faces, saying that they had been beaten.

His own servants were beaten.

It's worth it.

Immediately.

Huo Guang asked, "Who is the perpetrator, and you didn't report my name?"

The servants said, "I have reported it, but it is useless!"

Not top?

Huo Guang narrowed his eyes slightly and asked, "What is the origin of the other party, so arrogant?" My enclosure is something that Your Majesty has promised, and even the big officials in the court don't dare to do it with this council!"

I saw the slaves who had been beaten, and said hesitantly, "Huo Alang, the other party claims to be the prime minister!"