Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 734 What do you want so much money for?
There is a big restaurant in Xiangyang called "Taibai Tower".

This name sounds familiar, because the great poet Li Bai's courtesy name is "Taibai", which has the same name as it. So, is it related to Li Bai in any way?

Haha, it does seem to be related.

The behind-the-scenes boss of Taibai Tower is the Li family headed by Li Bai's father.

This restaurant was a chain restaurant operating throughout the Tang Dynasty during the Kaiyuan era, and even had branches in Liangzhou City. Although most of them have closed down due to wars and separatism, the one in Xiangyang is still open.

Li Bai's family had deep roots in Jingxiang, and many of their family members settled in Xiangyang and Jiangling. Even though few of them were officials, they were wealthy and lived a comfortable life. It can be said that Li Bai's romantic poems were all written with money.

Early in the morning, the sky was a little gloomy after the rain. Li Zhao, a member of Li Bai's family and Li Bai's cousin (a family brother, but closer than a cousin), opened the door of Taibai Tower and sat on the table in the middle of the lobby on the first floor to read the account book.

The kitchen was preparing delicious dishes for him. The first dish of Xiangyang Taibailou was tasted by Li Zhao every day. As the person in charge of running Taibailou, Li Zhao was very attentive and focused on business. The Li family had big business in Jiangling, Xiangyang and other places.

Family-style chain operations like this were already the norm during the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, and there were also big tycoons with businesses spread all over the country. People like He Baiwan from Bianzhou were not even on the list.

This person developed after Fang Qing took control of Bianzhou and took advantage of the government's fast lane.

However, before half an hour had passed, guests arrived. Since it was not yet time for dinner, their arrival was a bit unexpected and their attire was even more different.

The leader was an official in a scarlet robe, and behind him were police officers holding firewood sticks. The group of people came aggressively, and it seemed that they were not here for food.

"Hello, Lord Zhao, what brings you here?"

Facing the Xiangzhou governor Zhao Zan, Li Zhao did not dare to act rashly. He hurried forward, bowed with his hands folded, and saluted.

"Well, it is true that a gust of wind blew Zhao here."

Zhao Zan nodded calmly and winked at a clerk beside him.

“The imperial court has just issued a new decree, which now imposes taxes on all wealthy merchants in each state in order to raise military funds for the Eastern Expedition.

Each family left behind 10,000 strings of cash as a legacy.

The rest will be lent to the court for use and will be returned to you year by year in the future.

Well, that's it. "

The clerk spoke expressionlessly, reading from the script without any explanation.

What?
Li Zhao thought he had heard it wrong.

"Envoy Zhao, how do you explain this?"

Li Zhao felt unwell all over, and his voice was trembling when he asked questions.

“Didn’t you hear?
Then I will explain it to you. Your family's fertile land and this restaurant are worth about 10,000 strings of cash, no more, no less. I will be merciful and not argue with you about these. Just treat them as 10,000 strings of cash. Someone will go to your house and take away the rest later.

Have I made myself clear enough?"

Zhao Zan explained with a wry smile.

"Why!"

Li Zhao screamed and his face was distorted!
Look, this guy didn’t even make an excuse and just robbed people openly!
"Don't think too much. Since we are all in this together, I will return the money to you later.

Besides, ten thousand strings of cash is not a small amount. It is very generous of the imperial court to leave so much money for you.

Besides, how much can a person eat, wear and spend in a year? Isn't ten thousand strings of cash enough for you to spend?

"As a businessman, what do you want so much money for? Are you trying to support the rebels in rebellion?"

Zhao Zan's horrifying words, coupled with his nonchalant expression, made Li Zhao's heart sink to the bottom.

It seems that there is no turning back on this matter.

Li Zhao quickly pulled Zhao Zan aside and took out a stack of salt permits issued by Bianzhou from his arms. He leaned over and pleaded in a low voice, "Sir, please be lenient. The court is trying to kill me by doing this."

He spoke without thinking and even said the word "official".

Zhao Zan calmly put the stack of Bianzhou salt vouchers into his sleeves, then paused for a moment with an unnatural look on his face, and then sighed and said, "Prime Minister Lu wants to raise 5 million strings of cash for military expenses, and I am also in a difficult situation."

"Envoy Zhao, all solutions are invented by people. For example, the price of the land can be converted to a lower level, and Taibai Tower can also be registered under Envoy Zhao's name, right?"

Li Zhao was smart and knew that the court's evil policies were unavoidable, so he had no choice but to settle for the next best thing.

He took out another stack of salt certificates, his heart bleeding.

Zhao Zan saw that the other party was very tactful, so he put the salt into his sleeves, coughed lightly and said:

“I didn’t expect that the Taibai Tower, which was so prosperous on weekdays, would be so difficult to operate and couldn’t even take out a few thousand strings of cash.

How about this, I’ll give you three more days to raise money.

Three days later, someone will go door to door to check the accounts and settle accounts with you guys who are fat and greedy on weekdays.

If anyone dares to hide his wealth, his property will be confiscated and he will be beheaded for the crime of treason!

Let’s go to the next one!”

Zhao Zan walked away with a swagger. Only after he was far away did Li Zhao breathe a sigh of relief.

He turned around and shouted at the terrified waiter in the lobby, "Pack your things quickly, and we'll go to Bianzhou by the Mian River tonight! I'm going home now, so come back as soon as you're done packing!"

These servants have been in the Li family for at least ten years and cannot be easily abandoned.

For a moment, there was chaos in Taibai Building. The guys were busy running in and out, packing their belongings and preparing to run away. The soles of their shoes were almost rubbing sparks.

Needless to say, the ferry crossing for official ships must have been blocked by the government, and anyone who went there would be arrested.

Fortunately, Jingxiang has many tributaries, and unlike the Yellow River, many riverbanks are filled with silt and cannot accommodate boats, so you can just find a wild ferry on the Han River and get on the boat.

Li Zhao didn't think about anything else. He packed up his belongings and fled with his family overnight. He didn't even want the land and houses anymore. He just used them to buy a coffin for Emperor Li Lu.

Zhao Zan accepted Li Zhao's money and said that they would be given three days to raise the funds, but in fact he was hinting that they should run away quickly because the court was already making secret arrangements and would not take real action until three days later.

As for why Zhao Zan is so "easy to talk to", the reason is actually very simple.

Because no matter how much money was squeezed out of these wealthy businessmen, it would belong to the court, and Zhao Zan had nothing to do with it. For such a major political action, the emperor's eyes were almost drilled into the money, and any official who made money from it would be tantamount to seeking death.

But the salt permits from Bianzhou that Li Zhao gave him were all hard currency. No matter how much, every penny was his. There were no records, no procedures, no witnesses or evidence, so it was very safe in his pocket.

Wait until the storm is over and then find the salt merchants to exchange it for usable rice, grain and silk. That would be so wonderful.

As for the imperial court, what does that have to do with Zhao Zan?

Fang Qing did not make a big fuss and said that he would kill all the officials in Jingxiang!
The imperial court collapsed, and the troops of Jingxiang were defeated. When the time came, Zhao Zan could take off his official robes and look for his past connections in the officialdom, and he might be able to make a comeback.

Who now would be as honest as Yan Zhenqing and work hard for the loyal Li family?
On that day, what happened in Taibai Tower also happened in other major cities in Jingxiang such as Jiangling and Dengxian. The Yamen officials and the Jingxiang troops stationed in the local area all went out in full force to ask for money from the local wealthy families.

Some people were as quick-witted and good at maneuvering as Li Zhao. Others felt that the court should not do this, and they wanted to write to the emperor to abolish such "unrighteous" decrees.

For a time, the markets in the capitals of the states of Jingxiang were shut down, and all businesses were depressed. Merchants who could leave fled as soon as possible. The workshops were abandoned, and the workers inside were also laid off.

However, within just a few days, the cities in Jingxiang began to fall into chaos at a speed visible to the naked eye.

……

"Mr. Yan, please stay!"

Outside the Purple Palace, two guards holding halberds stopped Yan Zhenqing who was rushing in. They had no expression on their faces, but they held the halberds tightly in their hands.

"I have something important to report to the emperor, why are you stopping me?"

Yan Zhenqing was anxious and angry, and almost furious.

However, the two men remained motionless. One of them replied coldly:

"The emperor has ordered that the dragon is not feeling well today and will not see anyone.

The emperor specifically instructed that if Minister Yan came to the Purple Palace, he must be persuaded to go back.

Please don't make things difficult for us, Mr. Yan. We are just soldiers guarding the Purple Palace. We don't have to worry about as many things as Mr. Yan does."

"Please be sure to forward this memorial to the Emperor!"

Yan Zhenqing took out a memorial from his sleeve and handed it to one of the two people in front of him.

Having said that, Yan Zhenqing was too embarrassed to force his way in. He was a cultured person, and one of the characteristics of a cultured person is not to cause trouble to irrelevant people.

It was obvious that these two soldiers were just guarding the gate. What was the point of making things difficult for them?

The one hiding is the emperor!
"Ugh!"

Yan Zhenqing sighed, turned around and walked back to his own home.

The Yan family was a wealthy family, but they did not have much wealth or land, so they would not be included in the "property seizure list" in any case.

Otherwise, Lu Qi might really put a big hat on Yan Zhenqing and ask him whether he is willing to donate all his property to serve the country.

When Yan Zhenqing returned home, he saw Yan Gaoqing chatting with his nephew at the table in the main hall.

"My brother is in a good mood."

Seeing the smile on Yan Gaoqing's face, Yan Zhenqing sighed, then sat down at the table and shook his head.

"The emperor won't see you?"

Yan Gaoqing frowned slightly, with a bad feeling in his heart.

"Not only is he unwilling, he is actually avoiding me."

Yan Zhenqing put his official hat on the table and said helplessly, "The court is squeezing the rich merchants dry. Some have been forced to hang themselves. But can you really make money this way? Seeing someone die and lose their family, won't others run away?"

He really didn't know how to evaluate the court's "new economic policy."

The so-called "New Policy" was to plunder the wealthy merchants' wealth in the name of "loans", with each family retaining a fortune of 10,000 strings of cash.

Anyone who disobeys will be considered a traitor and his property will be confiscated.

It seems that ten thousand strings of cash is a lot, enough for a family's food and clothing.

However, this ten thousand guan includes real estate. The land outside the city, the shops and houses inside the city all need to be appraised. Many wealthy merchants have large houses that are very expensive. In addition, there is a lot of land outside the city.

The scene was so beautiful that it was hard to look at.

The "quota" of 10,000 guan was not even enough to cover the valuation of their land and houses. In other words, once this order was issued, all the things in the homes of these wealthy merchants, except for the houses that could not be moved, would be confiscated by the government!

This is no different from murder and arson.

When Yan Zhenqing heard about this, he hurriedly wrote a memorial and went to the Purple Palace to meet the emperor. However, Emperor Li Yu knew that he would definitely come and deliberately avoided him in the bedroom.

To put it bluntly, it was the "five million strings of cash" mentioned by Lu Qi that made the emperor jealous.

With these five million strings of cash, he could expand his army, march eastward, and realize his ambitions! As for those wealthy businessmen, Li Lu's thoughts were exactly the same as what Zhao Zan had said in Taibai Tower.

As a businessman, what do you need so much money for? Do you want to rebel?
There are so many things worth talking about in these trivial matters that Yan Zhenqing was a little confused and didn't know where to start.

“Many people usually scold Fang Qing for being cruel, but Fang Qing opened a commercial port in Bianzhou, reduced taxes, built ferries, established workshops, and recruited merchants from all over the country to do business in Bianzhou. He was not seen to be plundering.

If Fang Qing started to grab without restraint, he could grab more people and his knife would be faster.

I didn’t expect Fang Qing didn’t take action to snatch it, but the emperor did.”

Yan Gaoqing shook his head in disappointment.

What the hell is this shitty court!
Yan Gaoqing originally thought that after returning to Jingxiang, he had finally arrived at the "nationally governed area" and could finally work for the "orthodox". Unexpectedly, the governance of this "orthodox court" was far inferior to that of Bianzhou.

Now they are actually robbing the government openly. This is simply outrageous!

It's really sad.

"Father, I heard that Fang Qing also asked the rich businessmen for money, but he was raising funds to set up a business and lend money at low interest to the people to open workshops and buy farm tools.

They are both ways of making money, but this method is a little more sophisticated, right? The way the court eats is too ugly, why can't we learn from it?"

Yan Zhenqing's eldest son Yan Po complained somewhat dissatisfiedly.

Information was relatively closed in the feudal era, but after the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, even though the feudal lords were divided, exchanges between merchants and travelers from different places were still frequent.

Everyone knows what the situation is like in each place. There has never been a saying that something big happened somewhere and other places are completely unaware of it.

It is true that Yan Zhenqing and others scolded Fang Qing harshly on weekdays, but these people also had to admit that Fang Qing was a person who worked hard in the economy and people's livelihood.

This person is a practical person. Even though they have an opposing stance, Yan Zhenqing still admires this.

Fang Qing has only one problem, that is, he wants to be emperor!

This was the only reason why Yan Zhenqing and others scolded Fang Qing, and it was also the reason why they could not go to Bianzhou to serve.

The better Fang Qing managed Bianzhou, the more harshly these people scolded him.

You have such a talent for saving the world, why don't you stand up and serve the court? Why are you thinking about usurping the throne?

The greater the power, the greater the threat, and the more unforgivable the crime!

Now Yan Po said this very abruptly, and a trace of embarrassment appeared on the faces of Yan Zhenqing and Yan Gaoqing.

You all call Fang Qing a good-for-nothing, but he always pays in full when he goes to the street to buy things!
Fang Qing is not a good person, but Li Lu, who squeezes people to make money, is a good person?

This made Yan Zhenqing and others afraid to debate.

"It must be that Lu Qi deceived the emperor, which led to this evil policy.

Tomorrow, I will go to the Purple Palace to meet the Emperor again and make sure that this law is stopped from being implemented any further.

If this continues, Jingxiang will be in chaos even without Fang Qing’s attack.”

Yan Zhenqing said with a look of resentment, wishing he could cut Lu Qi into pieces.

What he didn't know was that someone had actually suggested to Fang Qing that he should squeeze the blood out of the merchants in Bianzhou and teach these wealthy people a lesson.

It was Fang Qing who overcame all the opposition and said that we should build the road first and then raise fish, and that a steady and long-term approach is the right way to go. If you exhaust all the fish in the pond, you can only have one meal full, but if you manage the land well, you can have a full meal every day.

Since Fang Qing can tolerate it, why can't Li Lu?

The difference here cannot be explained in a few words. Yan Zhenqing, Yan Gaoqing and others all subconsciously avoided this question.

The next day, when Yan Zhenqing pushed open the gate and walked out of the neighborhood, he saw that both sides of the road leading to the palace were full of people.

Each of them looked anxious, as if they were looking for something.

thump!
When they saw Yan Zhenqing coming out, one of them suddenly knelt down, and then groups of people on the road knelt down, some in brocade robes and some in rags.

"Mr. Yan, please save us! The imperial court is trying to force us to death!"

The crowd was either shouting loudly or roaring softly, the sounds coming one after another.

Yan Zhenqing felt ashamed and did not dare to meet their gazes. He walked away with his face covered, looking extremely embarrassed, as his servants led the way.

(End of this chapter)