In the winter of the twenty-fourth year of Kaiyuan, Li Longji took the central hundred officials to visit Zhongnan Mountain, which was more than 100 miles away from Chang'an City, and ordered the prince to supervise the country, and Li Linfu in the middle of the service to handle the general government affairs of foreign dynasties. Zhang Jiuling, Pei Yaoqing and others all accompanied the car.

Li Xuan, the son of Concubine Wu Hui, who was favored by Li Longji, was also among the drivers, which made many people fall through their eyes. Many people with active minds are wondering what Li Longji is doing this for.

A few days after Li Longji and his entourage left Chang'an, rumors spread in the city, saying that the saint would sacrifice to the heavens in Zhongnan Mountain, and then abolish the prince and make Li Xuan the new prince. For a while, people in the elite circle were panicked, and the undercurrent was surging.

Of course, the New Year, the New Year is still celebrated, and it will not stop because of the rumors of the abolished prince. It is only the dignitaries and nobles who are affected, and ordinary people who are promoted to fight, where will they care who is the prince?

This incident has had different impacts on different people in Chang'an City and on different places.

For example, Chang'an East City mainly sells the things of nobles, and the people living around it are also dignitaries, and the things in it are not affordable for ordinary people.

Because of the influence of the rumors of the abolished prince, the business of the East Market has been greatly affected, not only is there no crowd during the New Year, but the business is much quieter than usual.

However, Chang'an West City, which is dominated by civilians and ordinary wealthy people, has not been affected by the rumors of the abolition of the crown prince in the slightest. Chang'an residents who purchase New Year's goods in the west city come and go, which can be described as an endless stream.

Even the merchants of the Western Regions gathered in all directions in order to get a piece of the pie in the peak season of business, and they worked hard.

Chang'an is highly commoditized, and other places, especially the countryside, need to bring their own things, which are sold here. For example, the necessary things such as Tusu wine, Wuxin plate, fake flowers and fruits, and gum tooth dumplings required for New Year's celebration are not only varied here, but also subdivided into grades.

The rich have the luxury of the rich, and the poor have the poor to live the law, and the two are clearly distinguished, do not interfere with each other, and each enjoys its own pleasure.

If you don't look at other places in Datang and just focus your eyes on Chang'an, then now is indeed the prosperous era of Datang, and there is no place to find fault.

Orderly and magnificent city.

Orderly order.

A wide variety of products.

Convenient and stable life.

and peaceful memories of years without war.

Chang'an is the pearl of the Tang Dynasty, the symbol of the Tang Dynasty, this is a city that lives in the memory of history books, and even lives in the memory of the nation!

Of course, no matter how good your home is, you will get tired of living for a long time. Although Chang'an is good, for Li Longji, it has long lost its sense of novelty. This time, he took hundreds of officials to Zhongnan Mountain to play, which can be regarded as the emperor's own annual vacation.

The Tang Dynasty did not yet have a "Spring Festival". On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the Tang Dynasty was called "New Year's Day", "Yuan Day" or "Yuan Zheng".

At the beginning of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, Li Longji promulgated the "False Ning Order": "Yuanzheng and the winter solstice will each be given seven days off. "That is to say, the New Year has a total of seven days off, Chinese New Year's Eve and the three days before, and the first day of the new year (that is, the first day), the second day of the new year, and the third day of the new year, similar to the Golden Week of Fang Chongyong's previous life.

Li Longji himself is a fun-loving person, and he goes around the surrounding mountains during the New Year, admiring the snow and worshipping the sky, which seems to be reasonable. The emperor is engaged in team building, and there is nothing wrong with it.

Just a few days before the New Year, it was snowing heavily in Chang'an, and the house of Li Linfu's family in Pingkangfang was in full swing to be renovated and rebuilt, ready to welcome the New Year.

The area of Pingkangfang is not small, with a length of 1,022 meters from east to west and a length of about 500 meters from north to south, with a total area of about 500,000 square meters, that is, nearly half of the Forbidden City (the Forbidden City covers an area of 720,000 square meters).

The northwest corner of Pingkangfang is the palace of Princess Changning. This house alone occupies a full quarter of the area of Heikangbo, and there is also a Keju field. However, after Tang Ruizong ascended the throne during the Jingyun period, Princess Changning had already lost her position and left Chang'an, packaged and sold the mansion as a whole, and divided the mansion to build a new mansion.

Now many houses here have been converted into brothels. In order to facilitate the officials to "prostitute themselves", the locations of these green buildings are next to the door. It's easy for guests to get in and easy to get out.

The southwest corner of Pingkangfang is the residence of many court officials, such as Chu Suiliang's house, Pei Guangting's house and so on. Moreover, the Imperial Court's Jinjuin has always been located here, and it has not changed.

The households in the northeast corner are relatively large and complex, and the houses are very finely divided. To the west is the "Three Songs", and the others are small retail investors, who are often rented to some down-and-out students who have entered the Chang'an Imperial Examination.

There is also a temple here called Yanghua Temple.

"Sanqu" is where the prostitutes live, and the northernmost one is a poor prostitute, who can only do the skin and meat business, and do not even dare to declare their names. The second and third songs are frequent visitors to the mansions of Chang'an officials and nobles, and their lives are much more comfortable.

The southeast corner of Pingkangfang is where Li Linfu's residence is located, which together with Bodhi Temple occupies a quarter of the space of Pingkangfang.

In other words, Li Linfu's mansion is indeed not much smaller than the Changning Princess Mansion back then.

It is impossible to expand, the size and scale of the mansion that officials can have are customized, and many of the people living in Pingkangfang are nobles, and it is impossible for Li Linfu to offend these people in order to expand his own house.

He was promoted to an official and repaired a house, which is also an old rule of officialdom, but if he occupies someone else's house, it is obviously out of bounds.

Li Linfu not only did not make a statement, he even deliberately kept a low profile. Even the outer courtyard, including the courtyard walls, has not changed, but the furnishings inside have changed a lot.

At Li Linfu's strong request, the craftsmen broke through the walls between the wings and built compartments between the rooms, which could only accommodate two people and a table. Say it's a visitor, the place is too small. I said I wanted to be quiet, but it was too closed.

It's a bit like a place for plotting big things.

The decoration of the Datang Zuoxiang's house actually needs to be tossed so much, which makes the craftsmen feel incredible. It's just that Li Linfu is generous and powerful, and the one-time advance payment for the project is very bold, and these craftsmen have to treat themselves as blind, deaf and dumb.

Anyway, if you see it, you don't see it, if you hear it, you don't hear it, and if you know it, you pretend to forget, that's right.

The courtyard is being rebuilt, but Li Linfu in the study is meeting guests.

The guest who came was called Xiao Jiong, Li Linfu's henchman, who had previously served as a household official and Li Linfu's former subordinate.

Why add "before"?

Because he was demoted at this juncture of the New Year.

The reason for being demoted is also bizarre.

Xiao Jiong, who is the head of the household department, went to attend an official gathering with Yan Ting, the waiter of the Chinese book, not long ago. During this period, Xiao Jiong was probably bored, so he took a copy of "The Book of Rites" and flipped it over and over to pass the time.

In fact, this is also the norm, because the central officials of the Tang Dynasty have a lot of time to fish, and there are also a lot of boring chores to socialize.

But it shouldn't be, Xiao Jiong read it when he saw it, and he read it wrong!

Of course, there is a sentence in the book called "steaming and tasting Fula", Xiao Jiong recognized a white character and read the wax as the word "hunting".

If Fang Chongyong did such a stupid thing when he was in school in his previous life, it would definitely be harmless, who would dare to say that he didn't read the wrong words when he was studying?

But at this juncture, especially in the eyes of court officials, reading a wrong word is a big deal.

In fact, this is also very understandable, there is no trivial matter in officialdom, and no matter how small it is, it is enough to kill people at some moments!

Because the Book of Rites was one of the required reading lists for scholars in the Tang Dynasty, it was necessary to learn it when participating in the school system. And the word "wax" is not a rare word or a variant word.

Xiao Jiong can pronounce it as "ambush hunting", which already shows that he doesn't understand what this word means at all, to put it simply, this person is a bastard, a fake reader who doesn't know how to sneak into the court!

The officialdom of the Tang Dynasty was sinister, and the "good people" recorded in the history books may not be noble in their private morality.

Yan Tingzhi is quite unkind, and after hearing Xiao Jiong's mistake, he deliberately burst out laughing, so that everyone knew about it.

What's even more insidious is that he didn't say it explicitly on the spot, but after coming back, he took Xiao Jiong's embarrassing incident as a joke and told it everywhere, and even directly found Zhang Jiuling, the Zhongshu Ling, and said such a sentence: How can there be a "hunting squire" in the province (Shangshu Province)!

Zhang Jiuling is a traditional scholar, and he himself does not look down on uneducated people (the ability to manage money is not considered knowledgeable in the eyes of these people). Therefore, under Zhang Jiuling's operation, it didn't take long for the center to transfer Xiao Jiong to Qizhou as an assassin.

Now that he is resting, Xiao Jiong will definitely not be allowed to go to other places to take up his post, and it will definitely be after the Shangyuan Festival if he wants to leave. So he spent a lot of money to buy two jars of red lotus spring, and came to Li Linfu with wine to find a way.

"Li Xiang, Zhang Jiuling's side, there is a big matter!"

Xiao Jiong leaned over and said in a deep voice to Li Linfu.

"What's the big deal with Zhang Xianggong?"

Li Linfu smiled, waved his hand disappretently, and poured Xiao Jiong a cup of Red Lotus Spring, secretly annoyed in his heart, but his face was silent.

The power struggle between him and Zhang Jiuling has begun, and it has entered a white-hot stage of endless death.

Li Linfu believes that Zhang Jiuling's denigration of Xiao Jiong is not because Xiao Jiong mispronounced a word, but because he ...... He's excluding dissent! Xiao Jiong is Li Linfu's thug in the household department. Without Xiao Jiong, Li Linfu would lose control of the household department to a certain extent.

As for what Zhang Jiuling planned, it was not that important. If the stone is in the way, it must be removed. If Zhang Jiuling doesn't come down, how can Li Linfu himself become the right minister? Anyway, it's all going to be a death fight, and there is no shortage of this stubble.

Li Linfu relied on financial management, if he couldn't control the household department, then what kind of wealth would he have?

"The phase is vacant, Zhang Jiuling wants to get Yan Tingzhi to the phase!"

Seeing Li Linfu's uncaring appearance, Xiao Jiong gritted his teeth and said, and drank all the wine in the cup fiercely!

Riding a horse, Red Lotus Spring is really expensive. But precious people like this kind of tone, cheap things, no matter how good they are, they can't look down on them, thinking that they will lose their identity if they are stained! Xiao Jiong secretly scolded the person who brewed Red Lotus Spring in his heart for being black-hearted.

"Really?"

Li Linfu nodded noncommittally, secretly calculating the gains and losses in his heart.

Of the three prime ministers, Zhang Jiuling is still the right minister, Pei Yaoqing was demoted because he "misappropriated" Li Longji's "pocket money", and the position of prime minister was vacated.

Zhang Jiuling wants to help Yan Tingzhi, who has a good personal relationship with him, this is actually human nature.

How Li Longji will decide, now predicts, I'm afraid it's hard to say.

In Li Linfu's view, Zhang Jiuling's biggest problem is that he didn't understand what Li Longji lacks!

Times have changed, and what Li Longji lacks today is money!

If the Tang Empire wants to run smoothly, what it lacks is money!

Money! Money! Money!

Anything other than money, that's not a problem!

Now is the era of money, in the early years, those ministers thought that they could be tired of writing articles and chapters for the emperor, hehe, they could only say that they were stupid to read! Times have long since changed!

Can Zhang Jiuling make money for Li Longji? If so, how much? How much more can you do than yourself?

Thinking of this, Li Linfu was full of confidence, and the key to solving the problem was in his own hands.

For Li Longji, the prime minister who can't make money is a waste and can be taken out at any time!

The prime minister who can make money is the person Li Longji needs in the future. This is true both for the country and for Li Longji himself.

"This matter is already known to the prime minister, you go to Qizhou to take office first, and then talk about it, Yan Tingzhi's matter, the prime minister will deal with it."

Li Linfu was noncommittal, and said to Xiao Jiong with a smile.

Xiao Jiong had to thank him for his kindness, and then left in a sneer.

After he left, Li Linfu shook the silver lotus wine glass while contemplating.

"What the hell does the prince want to do?"

Li Linfu muttered to himself, touching the long beard on his chin. Zhang Jiuling was nothing more than dry bones in the mound in his eyes, and he was now troubled by another important matter.

……

The apes on both sides of the strait could not stop crying, and the light boat had already crossed the ten thousand mountains.

Starting from Kuizhou, the high-spirited Zheng Shuqing took the troubled Fang Chongyong, and the group took an official boat and went down the Yangtze River to Hanyang City (Hanyang District, Wuhan) for a day of repairs. Then turn into the Han River and go north to Xiangyang, and here is ready to continue north along the Baihe River, and take the Wuguan Road to enter the Guanzhong.

However, when they arrived outside Xiangyang City, they were surprised to find that the White River was frozen, and the waterway could not continue to go!

So everyone can only get off the boat at the Hanyin post not far from the west of Xiangyang City, this post is a water post and a land post, the scale is extremely large, not only there is a ferry, there are more than 100 houses in the post station, and the people who are sent to it are endless.

The size of the stables alone is spectacular, with dozens of stagecoaches in them!

Fang Chongyong stood outside the Hanyin Post and observed carefully, and found that there were several halls, pavilions and gardens in the post station. It's not as crowded as you might expect from a "youth hostel". The whole building looks very magnificent.

He couldn't help but have a question in his heart: With a post station of this scale, I am afraid that there are not a few horses to raise. Could it be that the center of the Tang Dynasty was a big dog and was willing to spend money to raise such a large post station?

It's not that he has many questions, but there are more than 1,600 post stations in Datang! If a post station consumes hundreds of guan per year, it will also cost hundreds of thousands! The post station not only had to provide free food and lodging for the officials, but was also responsible for delivering the message.

House maintenance, food and drink, horse feeding, staff salaries, which does not cost money? With such a large-scale post station, can it be beaten for hundreds of times a year? Datang is only afraid that the operation of these post stations will be poor!

Fang Chongyong couldn't understand it at all.

Zheng Shuqing seemed to see his doubts, leaned over and lowered his voice and said, "The post stations in various places, the center really does not allow them to receive rich merchants and pedestrians. But if you look at Qutangyi in Kuizhou, people come and go, are all officials living in it? How can there be so many officials who want to go to Shudi? ”

Hearing this, Fang Chongyong understood in seconds.

When he saw that Qutangyi in Kuizhou was overcrowded, he thought that it was full of officials. Only now do I know the answer, it turns out that the vast majority of the people living in it are not officials, but merchants with money and connections.

Even poets who have no official positions have also rubbed the post station and mixed up to eat.

Actually, this is also very understandable.

In feudal society, people's pace of life is very slow, even in a southwestern throat like Kuizhou, how many officials will live here in a month? How many officials will frequently travel to and from Shu along the Yangtze River?

The answer is obvious.

Just as the Tang Dynasty government did not allow cattle to be killed and eaten beef. A ban is a ban, eating meat is eating meat, the two go hand in hand, and those who like to eat will still eat it!

The government does not allow post stations in various places to receive merchants, but except for the post stations around Luoyang, Chang'an, which post station does not rely on this kind of "extra money" to make a living? The death order of the imperial court is always less important than livelihood.

When people die poor, they have nothing, so what's the use of teaching the law to these people?

If not many officials pass by the post station during the year (which is very common), should all the people at the post station be dismissed? So what if an official passes by and wants to stay and eat? Shall we call back those who have been dismissed?

This is certainly unrealistic!

Therefore, the center of the imperial court turns a blind eye to such a thing as "taking private work" at post stations in various places, and as long as no one reports it, it doesn't matter.

The post stations below are also in full swing, and they are even "outsourced" and run by large local households!

In order to survive and live better, people can always think of a better way.

Fang Chongyong and his party entered the Hanyin Station, and asked the post guard to bring some local specialties of Xiangyang, such as pan eel, scallops, crucian carp and other river fresh.

At this moment, they saw a young man dressed in a down-to-earth manner, who was being pushed and shoved out of the post station. Those post guards looked very unpolite, which was diametrically opposed to the humble attitude of receiving Zheng Shuqing!

"That person is an official, tell him to come over and have a drink together."

Fang Chongyong whispered to Zheng Shuqing.