The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

After visiting the Pearl City for a few days, the merchants began to think about it. With such favorable policies and strong support from the local government, merchants from all over the northwest have begun to transport goods to this place for trading. Here Obviously, it is already a gathering place for the north and south, so if you hesitate for a moment at this time, there will be no business opportunities.

Moreover, the number of shops is limited, there are thousands of shops in the city, and the invited merchants are coming one after another. In addition to the [-] shops reserved by the Northwest merchants, there are only [-] shops for foreign merchants to compete for, so we can't hesitate anymore.

Li Chong's Four-Route Warehouse Office began to overwhelm the threshold. In order to sign a settlement agreement with the government, all the merchants even fought against each other.

And Li Chong sits in the town himself, and has his own way of selection, each of the 360 ​​lines must have one, you can’t sell cloth and I will sell cloth, the whole city is full of cloth merchants, so after several days of screening, Finally, more than 500 merchants were delineated to settle in Pearl City.

The rest of the merchants who did not get the opportunity to settle in were naturally dejected, but the good news came one after another. The government convened the remaining more than 200 people to announce that they were willing to provide land for the merchants to invest in, and build their own shops to settle in. They only need to build according to the planned location and style. That’s it; the merchants thought it over and over again, and many people accepted this proposal. Although the investment is a lot, the shop will be owned by themselves, and they are more at ease than those who get free shops. After all, they still have to pay after one year. Rent or buy a shop. [

Of course, this idea was thought up by Su Jin. Although the new city was built, due to the lack of funds, if the houses and pavements were built according to the design, it would not be enough to add millions more. Save effort, don't spend money, just provide worthless land, you can attract merchants to settle in, and the merchants who settled in this way will never run away halfway, because they spend too much money on property, loyalty It is even higher than the merchants who get free shops.

With the opening of businesses one after another, every day in Pearl City seems to be a happy event, and the firecrackers are constantly exploding; and the pier outside the city is also getting busy day by day, except for the local merchants who are attracted by the low tax rate to trade in Pearl City , The merchants who went back to prepare for opening also brought the news back to their respective state capitals. Every day, businessmen came here to explore the road, and many people came to play after hearing that Mingzhu City was different; The forests have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, and the streets are already bustling with bustle and bustling.

……

As the eyes and ears sent by the emperor, Gao Ruona naturally wanted to report Su Jin's every move to the court. When Su Jin decided to build a new city in April, Gao Ruona had already given Zhao Zhen a secret report every ten days. Tips off.

Zhao Zhen didn't quite understand what Su Jin was going to do. Originally, he sneered, laughing at this kid's whimsical fuss. Building a new city is not easy?It took Zhong Shiheng nearly a year to build the Slender Waist City on the border back then, and the court spent a lot of money and materials, but the Slender Waist City was breached a year later and turned into a pile of scorched earth. For this reason, Zhao Zhen felt distressed for a long time.

Now Su Jin has also begun to build a city, but obviously the geographical location of this city was not built to defend against the enemy. In addition, Su Jin did not ask for a penny from the court, and Zhao Zhen did not say much. When the courtiers reported, Zhao Zhen just He hummed twice to show that he knew what was in his mind.

Zhao Zhen meant to see what Su Jin was up to, and wait and see what happened, so he didn't want to interfere more than ordering Gao Ruona to report the news in time.

Su Jin is well aware of Gao Ruona's actions, but he has been busy all the time, and he has no time to talk to this guy, but when the new city is completed, Su Jin will move the Lushizhi office to Mingzhu City. However, Gao Ruona suddenly jumped out to object.

Gao Ruona said eloquently: "The imperial court designated the Lu Shizhi office, which involved the relocation of various military and government offices and their families. In addition, they moved to this small city, which is farther away from the original Lu Shizhi office. It is not convenient for officials from all over the country to report government affairs and military affairs. , Your Excellency relocating without permission from the imperial court is really debatable."

Su Jinnai explained with temper: "The reason why I want to move the government office to Mingzhu City is to use the power of the government to promote the prosperity of Mingzhu City. The new city has just been built, and the people are not used to it. The government took the lead. Then the common people will definitely follow; once the popularity is formed, they can go back to work at the original government office, so why make a fuss.”

Gao Ruona resolutely refused, and threatened: "Building this city is superfluous. It wastes people's money. I don't know Master Su's intention to build the city. With so much spare money, why don't you strengthen the original state capital and help the people more? You If you move, then move, but I won't move; this official is in charge of military affairs, and none of the yamen under my jurisdiction is allowed to move."

Su Jin sneered and said, "Spare money? Do you think it's money from the imperial court? Let me tell you, the imperial court on the Northwest Route has already lost a cent, not to mention military and civilian food and salaries, even your lord Gao's salary. Way to pay; Lao Tzu builds the city to attract business just because he wants to make more money, otherwise everyone will go to drink the northwest wind; Before you can speak, you have the ability to settle the salaries and military rations of 12 officers and soldiers in the Northwest, and I don’t want to spend a penny; you also said that you are in charge of military affairs. I cut off your rations and salaries. Calf, if you talk too much, I will not be polite to you."

Gao Ruona was so depressed that he was dying. How did he know about the agreement between Su Jin and Zhao Zhen? It is the key relief object of the imperial court, how could it be possible to not pull out a hair?

Gao Ruona didn't quite believe it. He asked Zhao Zhen about this matter in the secret report, and the answer he got was affirmative. Zhao Zhen clearly reprimanded Gao Ruona not to do things with Su Jinming. burden, and the imperial court is concentrating financial and material resources to quell the "chaos" of the tribes in Guangnan, so they don't want to make troubles at this time.

Gao Ruona hit a snag, and felt extremely depressed. Su Jin's attitude towards him also made him unbearable. He treated him like a young master, and treated him with great respect. No matter what, his qualifications were higher than Su Jin's. Jin has aged many times, and Zhao Zhen'an can be his eyes and ears beside Su Jin. His relationship with Zhao Zhen is undoubtedly much better than Su Jin's. I really can't bear this tone.

On the surface, Gao Ruona succumbed, and followed Su Jin and others to move the yamen to Mingzhu City, but in fact Gao Ruona was not looking for Su Jin's flaws all the time, he wanted to avenge the humiliation.

At the beginning of September, Su Jin, who had a little spare time, was lazy and didn’t go to the yamen for a long time. He hid in the inner courtyard of the new house in the middle chamber and played chess with Yan Biyun. inferior.

The servant came to report quickly, saying that the imperial edict had arrived, so Su Jin had no choice but to drop the chess pieces, crown and belt, and rush to the Yamen lobby not far away to receive the order. Wait, Su Jin knows the servant, he is the head servant of Zhao Zhenyu's study named Zuo Daoying, and he has met Su Jin several times.

To be polite, Zuo Daoying immediately proclaimed the decree. The content of the imperial decree surprised Su Jin. It turned out that Zhao Zhen heard that Su Jin was building a new Pearl City, so he asked Zuo Daoying to come to Mingzhu City to inspect the city's construction for half a month. He said that he needed to learn from experience. Ask Su Jinhaosheng to receive him. [

Su Jin was very puzzled. When he built the Pearl City, he had played Zhao Zhen himself. Zhao Zhen was noncommittal, and even cryptically used the Slender Waist City as an example. In fact, he didn't agree with it; but Su Jin pretended not to understand Zhao Zhen's words. Meaning, taking Zhao Zhen's noncommittal as acquiescence, he started working in full swing, and Su Jin also knew that without spending a penny on Zhao Zhen, he had no reason to forcibly stop himself.

But now why Zhao Zhen suddenly became so interested, and sent his personal servant to say something about the investigation. Is the name of Pearl City really famous all over the world?

"Master Su, I'm going to bother you here for a while, and I'm causing trouble to Master Su." Zuo Daoying said with a smile.

Su Jin smiled and said: "What are you talking about, Mr. Zuo is someone who can't be invited. Being able to come to this small new town is to give Su some money. It's just that the place is remote, and I'm afraid the reception is not good enough."

Zuo Daoying laughed and said: "Lord Su is too polite. The emperor heard that the Pearl City was well built. The merchants who have been here in the capital will go crazy when they return to the capital. It’s rare, so the emperor sent me to take a look, if it’s really good, the Ministry of Industry may soon send someone to record the process and leave it to future generations.”

Su Jin chuckled and said: "The emperor has intentions. My lord can travel freely in this city, but I am busy with business and may not have time to accompany you. If you have orders, you can send someone to inform you in advance."

Zuo Daoying said with a chuckle: "Master Su has a lot of things to do every day, so I naturally won't delay Mr. Su's work. I have already agreed with Mr. Gao that he will accompany and guide the whole process. I also ask Mr. Su for his permission."

Su Jin glanced at Gao Ruona, and found that there was an uncontrollable excitement in Gao Ruona's expression. Seeing that he and Zuo Daoying seemed to be very familiar, he suddenly understood that Gao Ruona had worked in Zhao Zhen As a housekeeper by his side, he is naturally very familiar with the servants around the emperor, so it is naturally a joy to meet old friends, it seems nothing strange.

Su Jin still felt vaguely uncomfortable about the sudden arrival of Zuo Daoying. If someone from the Ministry of Industry or the History Museum came, Su Jin would not be surprised at all. After all, building a new city is also a big deal, and the Ministry of Industry may send people to study the engineering structure The history museum may come back to record the construction of the city and compile it into the history books and pass it on to future generations, but what is the purpose of this heretic?He is the emperor's servant, so it would be appropriate if he came to deliver a secret decree or oral order, but it would be a strange thing to come to see the city.

Is it true that the emperor wants to know the uniqueness of this new city, and can't he come and see it for the emperor?But the emperor can order himself to write a detailed memorial to explain it, or directly order himself to send someone to make a statement in person, wouldn't it be more convenient?

Su Jin smelled something unusual.

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