The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 130

"Sir, I think you can't laugh or cry." Looking at Pei Shiqing, Yang Tong said with a smile.

Pei Shiqing sighed, and said with a look of embarrassment on his face: "I don't know how to speak, but we do encounter difficulties, and Luoyang's army supplies are about to run out. I would like to ask Your Highness, for the sake of brotherhood and being the descendants of Emperor Taizong, to borrow Our [-] shi grains, the Holy Majesty is very grateful."

Yang Tong sneered in his heart, and said to himself: Probably because he heard that he had blackmailed Li Yuan, he was eager to share the cake!But there is still a little promise and nothing to give. This is a typical example of a tiger borrowing a pig without sincerity. There is no such good thing in this world.Moreover, the Pei family, Zheng family and other great noble families behind Yang Tan are not decorations, and their money and food cannot be used up so quickly.Yang Tan came here to cry for poverty, probably because the aristocratic family lost confidence in him and didn't want to invest in Yang Tan anymore.

He didn't show any signs of expression, he hung Pei Shiqing's heart to his throat, and then said slowly: "I don't have any surplus food, so I dare not borrow it. There are three reasons: In the past one or two years, Jizhou has been unable to make ends meet, and nearly tens of millions All my surnames depend on me to support them with work-for-relief, and my foreign wars continue, and my food storage is almost exhausted; second, Li Yuan searched Bingzhou fiercely, and before the Battle of Bingzhou, Pei Ji, Li Shentong and others forcibly recruited people's power The construction of defenses caused the people to delay the farming season, and millions of people could not persist in the autumn harvest. This also needs me to support. [-]. Goguryeo invaded Xiangping and Lushun many times, and large-scale wars were imminent. And this time, it was Goguryeo and Baekje is working together, I can't ignore the righteousness of the nation for my own selfishness, and this is also the fundamental reason why I didn't pursue Li Yuan while he was winning."

Pei Shiqing seemed to understand a little bit.

In the Battle of Bingzhou, Yang Tong's losses were almost negligible compared to Li Yuan's. Li Yuan had no troops at important passes such as Tongguan and Pujin Pass. After he conquered Bingzhou, he decisively stopped the march. Everyone was puzzled by his abnormal behavior. It turned out that there was a problem in Liaodong, which forced Yang Tong to stop the march.Goguryeo knew how to choose the right time, and actually saved Li Yuan's life.

All of a sudden, Pei Shiqing couldn't speak anymore.

As an orthodox Han Chinese, in terms of national justice, he himself admires Yang Tong's domineering over foreigners.

"Food, I really can't borrow it!" After emphasizing it again, Yang Tong continued, "However, I can support Brother Yan in another way."

Pei Shiqing hurriedly asked, "How can His Highness support you?"

"I'm short of everything here, but I don't lack money! I want copper and iron, cloth, silk, wood, livestock, medicinal materials, pens, inks, papers and inkstones. As long as you send them to Wen County, Hanoi County, I will buy them all. Luoyang also has business because of this. Prosperity, business tax increase, and money pouring in! With money, you can go to Bashu and Jiangnan to purchase food." Yang Tong paused, and then said: "I know that the big family members of your family have some special connections. , don’t tell me that the world is chaotic or something! And this is the only way I can help Brother Yan, this is the first time and the last time I help him.”

After a long silence, Pei Shiqing said, "Your Highness really wants everything?"

"You can't shoddy!"

"Isn't Your Highness very disgusted with aristocratic families?"

"Business is a normal transaction in which everyone takes what they need and win-win cooperation. After the business is over, it will be separated. No one owes anyone, and no one knows anyone. To tell you the truth, I will go to Hedong in two days. One is delivery. Prisoner of war, the second is to discuss business matters with Li Jiancheng!"

Pei Shiqing was dumbfounded, somewhat unable to accept Yang Tong's behavior of seeking skin from a tiger.But his distinction between business returning to business and government returning to government seems to be correct.

Take what you need.

"I, Mrs. Pei, can do business with Your Highness!" It's not that Pei Shiqing didn't know that he was sorry for Yang Tan, and it wasn't that he didn't know that Yang Tong had bought Luoyang's grain.

But aristocratic families and gentry families are all big business houses, and national interests have to stand aside in front of family interests.What's more, when Yang Tong got the real goods and his family got a huge amount of money, Yang Tan also got a huge amount of business tax. This is a win-win situation where everyone is happy!
Yang Tong smiled, Pei Shiqing's reaction was as he expected, and said: "I have a lot of money piled up in Shenwu Palace and Liyang warehouse, at least there are tens of thousands of money, your Pei family can't afford it, and I am in a hurry to buy it." To fight Goguryeo, it is best to mobilize the Kanto family to take it together!"

"Here!" Pei Shiqing's heart pounded when he heard that.

This is an era of the copper standard. The value of gold and silver is recognized by the world, but it is mainly used as a precious metal for gifts and collections, which is different from copper as a currency value.Ten million hanging money is definitely an astonishing windfall, and Pei Shiqing cannot be indifferent.

Yang Tong smiled slightly, and settled another deal.

His new monetary policy was just the start of the silver standard.

Silver has the function of financial reserve and was also an important means of international trade payment. China has a long history of understanding and using silver. Silver was made into handicrafts and currency very early, but the time when silver was used in large quantities as currency was After the Tang and Song Dynasties...

It was not until the Yuan Dynasty that the silver standard system was strengthened, and the government regarded silver as the most important currency, that is, silver ingots and ingots appeared. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the silver standard system was consolidated and strengthened. In the Ming Dynasty, silver coins became the official currency.

Once the country is reunified, the people will become more and more prosperous, the circulation of goods will become more frequent, and there will be more and more large-scale transactions. A transaction often needs to cost tens of thousands of hangs, 10,000+ hangs of copper coins, which is too cumbersome and troublesome.Gold is expensive and can make up for the cheapness and bulkiness of copper coins, but its output is small and it cannot become a mainstream currency.Between gold, copper, and copper, it is more appropriate and scientific to use silver as legal tender.

The key is that aristocratic families have always regarded gold and pure copper as a means of storing wealth, and they do not pay much attention to silver, which is the second child. They think that silver is not as useful as copper and silver, and it is not as valuable as gold. not much.

When silver replaces copper coins and prevails in the world, they will feel that they are very miserable.This is plundering the wealth of the world...

Yang Tong has no shortage of silver.

In the territory he controlled, Fengning Niuquan in Baitan County and Guzigou in Chengde, Yanmen Lingqiu Branch Homeland, Ulanqab area east of Khanting in southern Turkic, and Siping Mountain in Fuyu City in the north of Xiangping all had typical examples. Silver deposits, the silver veins in these places are only shallowly buried under the soil surface, and with a little digging, there will be abundant silver mines everywhere!

And the Sado Gold Mine on Sado Island he knows is a gold and silver mine with huge reserves. It has produced nearly 500 tons of gold and more than [-] tons of silver...Iwami Silver Mine and Ashio Copper Mine are easy to mine and have stretching deposits. It is inexhaustible, within dozens or hundreds of years, there is almost no worry of severance!Hey, what is the purpose of rushing to build a navy?Isn't it just to conquer the Japanese pirates and seize these treasures?
Feeling that his thoughts were a bit far away, Yang Tong straightened his face and said seriously: "I heard that Wang Shichong is very restless?"

"Wang Shichong does control the military power in Luoyang, the eastern capital, but the military rations have always been supplied by the court. Although there are conflicts between the two, they are also for the sake of the overall situation."

Pei Shiqing sighed, "The main reason is that Wang Shichong was too greedy, and he pressed for food urgently, and the food in Hanjiacang was also exhausted, and only Ziwei Palace Taicang still stored [-] shi of grain, which was used to save lives for the people. , Of course it can’t all be given to the army, the army has misunderstood the court.”

Yang Tong immediately heard two clues. First, Wang Shichong still had a considerable amount of food in his hands, but out of his own self-reliance, he wanted to save people's lives and money, so Yang Tan refused to give it to him; second, Wang Shichong Deliberately withholding military pay, deliberately saying in the army that Yang Tan and his important officials are heartless and unjust, arousing the resentment and dissatisfaction of the soldiers against the court and the emperor, and alienation, thus preparing for the next step to seize power.

But the reaction of Yang Tan's faction is really interesting. They actually want to control Wang Shichong in terms of military rations. Wouldn't Wang Shichong, who has the heart of the army, not grab it?Wouldn't Wang Shichong launch a coup in Luoyang similar to the Jiangdu Palace change?
If he were Yang Tan, he would definitely form an army loyal to him, or ask Yang Tong to borrow troops. After all, the two brothers have never been red-faced from the beginning to the end.But it's impossible to think about it. Compared with Wang Shichong who is restrained, Yang Tan is actually more afraid of Yang Tong. Once Yang Tong's influence enters Luoyang, it will be an authentic way of luring wolves into the house.After all, Wang Shichong is a courtier, and he still needs Yang Tan's military and political support, which is easier to deal with.

Even if Yang Tan wanted to lure him into Luoyang, the aristocratic family would not agree, for fear that he would change theirs.Thinking about it carefully, Yang Tan, the emperor, was quite helpless, boring, and insecure.

"The coup in Jiangdu Palace is a profound lesson. Don't you have a long memory?" Yang Tong stared at Pei Shiqing and said, "The emperor these days is decided by the army, and nothing else is useless. Go back and let Yan Brother Wang formed an elite army that belongs to him, listen to me, you must be right."

Yang You is young, kind and filial, with Wei Xuan going through the needles, the relationship between the two brothers has always been good, and their orphans and widows have no influence, Yang Tong is very happy to accept this grateful younger brother, and he also respects him very much and can afford to let go But Yang Tan is a different matter. He has been an emperor and experienced the joy of imperial power. He is definitely not willing to be a happy king. The important thing is that he still has a lot of followers. Encourage Yang Tan to do nonsense.In a prosperous age, they wouldn't be able to make waves at all, but now it's a chaotic world, and they don't have the time or energy to deal with infighting, and they don't want the good situation to be ruined by a group of rat shit, so they can only let Yang Tan fend for himself.

(End of this chapter)