Eagle-eyed and wolf-watching

Chapter 1684 A world of difference
Ye Mingsheng smiled as he looked at Jing Ren, who was filled with righteous indignation and seemed to be speaking out for him.

"Jingren, what do you plan to do?"

Faced with his father's question, Jingren thought for a moment and said:

"First, we must refute their ideas firmly and make them realize their mistakes. If they don't admit their mistakes well, we should also punish them and put them in solitary confinement!"

Hearing Jingren say this, Ye Mingsheng smiled and said:

"Jingren, there's no need to lower yourself to their level!"

"It was just a few words, there's no need to make such a big deal out of it. As an emperor, one should have confidence and a broad mind!"

"As the emperor, all the people under heaven will naturally be interested in commenting on you and discussing everything about you. This is something that every emperor must go through, so there's no need to take it too seriously!"

Seeing his father's nonchalant attitude, Jingren seemed to want to say something, but in the end he didn't.

Having traveled for several hours, Ye Mingsheng was quite tired. After finishing his meal, he went to his room on the second floor of the inn.

Although this room was the best room in Xinglong Inn, the best inn in Zhao Family Town, Ye Mingsheng still couldn't help but frown when he saw the room's layout. He also felt a little nostalgic for his bedroom in the palace.

Although Ye Mingsheng had mentally prepared himself before setting off, feeling his instinctive reaction, he couldn't help but sigh, "It's easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality. The ancients were truly right..."
If Ye Mingsheng had been able to stay in a room like this when he first arrived, he would have been very happy.

Unfortunately, Ye Mingsheng of today is no longer the commander of the Imperial Guards, but the Emperor of the Great Qian Dynasty who rules the world!
Previously, Ye Mingsheng couldn't understand why emperors would undertake large-scale construction projects to build temporary palaces for themselves when they went on tours.

But now Ye Mingsheng understands that this sense of disparity is enormous!

If someone who has risen from the bottom can feel this sense of disparity, imagine how emperors, who were pampered from childhood, could not accept such an environment!
Changes in status and position inevitably lead to changes in thinking. Human desires are endless. When people can't get enough to eat and can only wear patched clothes, being able to eat their fill and wear new clothes is happiness!
But once you've achieved your goals of having enough to eat and new clothes, you'll want to live in a better house and have a more beautiful wife—that's just human nature!

A person's life is often driven by desires. Desires can drag a person into the abyss, but they can also spur a person to progress!
After quickly dusting off the bed, Ye Mingsheng lay down, recalling the words of the scholars he had just heard.
"A lone rider raises dust, the emperor laughs, but no one knows it's a prawn arriving!"

Because of the many things that had happened recently—drought and floods in the Central Plains, and ongoing warfare on the northern grasslands—Ye Mingsheng hadn't been able to travel incognito for some time. He truly had no idea that these people were spreading such rumors about him…

They even compared their own shrimp and spring water to Yang Guifei's lychees!

At first, Ye Mingsheng felt that there was no comparison at all!
The lychees favored by Yang Guifei came from Lingnan, a distance of approximately 3,000 li (about 1,500 kilometers) from Lingnan to Luo'an. However, lychees are extremely difficult to preserve under modern conditions; the saying "the color changes in one day, the aroma in two days, and the taste in three days" is no exaggeration…

Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Li Longji, spared no expense to ensure that his beloved daughter-in-law could enjoy fresh lychees. The speed of transporting lychees was faster than that of military intelligence. A relay station was set up every thirty li, and the relay stations used fast horses to relay the lychees, changing people and horses day and night. In this way, they could travel more than five hundred li a day and strive to deliver the lychees to Yang Guifei within six days!
In addition to the transportation method, they also painstakingly studied transportation tools and preservation technology, and came up with a solution of soaking lychees with branches in salt plum water, putting them into bamboo tubes and sealing them with wax, and then covering them with ice chests to preserve them and delay spoilage!
To get a taste of this, they went to great lengths, which wasted a great deal of the Tang Dynasty's national strength!
The shrimp that Ye Mingsheng ate was also easily perishable. In order to preserve them, the method of transporting lychees in the Tang Dynasty was borrowed to some extent. After the shrimp were caught by the fleet, someone immediately used ice to preserve them, put them in ice chests, and then sent them to the palace by fast horse so that Ye Mingsheng could enjoy them to his heart's content!
Although the methods may seem similar, they are actually quite different!

The most crucial point is that the lychees that Yang Guifei ate were transported from Lingnan to Luo'an, a distance of three thousand li!

The shrimp that Ye Mingsheng ate was transported from Tianjin to Yijing, which is less than 300 li away!

One is three thousand li away, the other three hundred li away; the distance between the two sides differs by more than ten times. Although both involve a drain on national strength, the comparison is like night and day...

As for the spring water from Baitou Mountain that Ye Mingsheng drank, it was indeed quite far from Yijing, more than two thousand miles away, which was close to the distance of the lychees that Yang Guifei ate!

The problem is with water. Unlike lychees, which are prone to rotting and require preservation, water doesn't have such high requirements for timeliness. You can put it in a jar and put it on a horse-drawn carriage, and it will stay fresh for a month or two.

Emperor Xuanzong of Tang killed more than two hundred fast horses and spent more than 700,000 taels of silver just to let Yang Guifei eat fresh lychees!

An Miaoyi arranged Ye Mingsheng's shrimp and spring water. Ye Mingsheng didn't ask about it, but he felt that these two items cost more than a thousand taels of silver, so he felt no guilt at all while eating shrimp and drinking tea!
So when those scholars first compared themselves to Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Ye Mingsheng was truly speechless!

However, upon closer examination, although the difference in the expenditure on national strength is significant, the situation is the same!

They all use Q power to satisfy their own selfish desires!

Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng felt a little self-deprecating. He always told others that he should restrain his desires, but he himself couldn't do it!

Q-Force is indeed a good thing, and everyone wants to obtain it and use it for themselves. But precisely because of this, Ye Mingsheng also felt that he should keep a calm mind and have a sense of awe towards Q-Force!
Now that I've reached this point, any decision I make could affect tens of thousands of people!

Ye Mingsheng's guiding principle is that he may not be a wise or benevolent ruler, but he is unwilling to be a tyrant or a foolish ruler. Therefore, adhering to this principle, Ye Mingsheng is indeed hesitant at times, and even considers the pros and cons.

Ye Mingsheng also reflected on his shortcomings and his inappropriate actions.

It was with this in mind that Ye Mingsheng initiated this inspection; he wanted to listen to the voices from the grassroots level…
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Just as Ye Mingsheng was lying on the large bed in the palace hotel reflecting, a middle-aged man, led by Granny Song, passed through several gates and walls of the palace and arrived at a room.

A screen divided the room into two parts. The man looked at the screen with some curiosity, as if he wanted to peek behind it.

Seeing the man's appearance, Granny Song immediately frowned and scolded him angrily:
"Be honest! Answer whatever they ask!"

This boss, who usually acts all high and mighty with hundreds of employees, immediately became obsequious and fawned under Song Mama's reprimand.

After half a cup of tea, a voice came from behind the screen.

"You are Wang Bang?"

Although the other person's voice was devoid of any emotion and consisted of only a few words, upon hearing it, Wang Bang couldn't help but picture a beautiful woman in his mind.

Although he was very curious about what the woman behind the screen looked like, Wang Bang knew very well the consequences of doing so, so he restrained his thoughts and answered honestly:

"This humble citizen is none other than Wang Bang!"

"I heard you're a big businessman?"

"I dare not call myself a great merchant; I am merely a man with modest wealth!" The woman behind the screen ignored Wang Bang's modesty and continued to ask:
"I heard you've been to Lugao?"

When asked this question, Wang Bang paused for a moment and said:

"Why are you asking this?"

As soon as Wang Bang finished speaking, Song Mama, who was standing next to him, slapped him hard across the face. The slap was so hard that Wang Bang tasted blood in his mouth. Wang Bang instinctively glared angrily at Song Mama.

As a result of his actions, Granny Song slapped him again.

After being slapped twice, Wang Bang vowed that if he weren't in the palace, he would teach this wretched woman a lesson. He would have his brothers gang rape her and then sell her to the natives of Southeast Asia, making her regret ever being born!

Unfortunately, this wasn't Southeast Asia, but the imperial palace of the Great Qian Dynasty. So, while he might be a fierce tiger outside, he had to be submissive here. Thinking of this, Wang Bang lowered his head and replied:

"I visited Lugao two years ago!"

Tell me about Lu Gao!

Although he didn't know what the woman behind the screen was up to, Wang Bang recounted what he had heard and heard in Lu Gao.

The woman behind the screen listened to Wang Bang's story and occasionally asked questions, which Wang Bang answered. The two of them talked and asked questions for nearly an hour.

Just as Wang Bang was feeling parched, he heard a woman's voice again.

Who do you think is better, Da Qian or Lu Gao?

Faced with this question, Wang Bang hesitated for a moment, then immediately began to speak:
"Our Great Qian is a celestial empire, naturally our Great Qian is better!..."

The voice behind the screen remained silent for a moment before speaking again:
Where do your family members live?

Upon hearing this question, Wang Bang immediately became alert, quickly trying to figure out what the woman behind the screen meant by asking it.

Upon seeing that Wang Bang did not answer the question immediately, Granny Song once again cast a warning glance at him.

Despite not understanding the other party's thoughts, Wang Bang still braced himself and said:

"My esteemed guest, my family is all in Southeast Asia!"

Just as Wang Bang was quickly thinking about how to answer if the noblewoman behind the screen continued to press him, the woman behind the screen did not ask the question further but instead asked:

"In your opinion, what should we do if we don't want to end up like the Kingdom of Lugao?"

Upon hearing this question, Wang Bang was taken aback. After much deliberation, he replied:
"The matter of Lu Gao Kingdom is very attractive to the people. The best way to avoid becoming like Lu Gao Kingdom is to block the news and make the people completely unaware of its existence. Then tell the people that Da Qian is the Celestial Empire, that life in Da Qian is the best, and that people in other places envy Da Qian!"

"Therefore, the best way to ensure the stability of the country is to keep the people ignorant. Once they are well-fed, they start thinking about all sorts of things, so it's best not to let them eat too much!"

In my humble opinion, the best scenario is for them to go hungry sometimes and be fed sometimes, but not starve to death...

Upon hearing this answer, silence fell again behind the screen. Wang Bang was somewhat uneasy, wondering what the important person behind the screen thought of his ideas.

After half a cup of tea, the sound came from behind the screen again.

"Wang Bang, I have a task for you!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Bang quickly said:
"It is my honor that you have entrusted this task to me. As long as you give the order, I, Wang Bang, will not hesitate to go through fire and water without even flinching!"

Upon hearing Wang Bang's explanation, the woman behind the screen simply chuckled and said:

"I don't need you to go through fire and water, but I do need you to actively help me gather information about the West!"

Hearing the other party say that, Bangbang secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Although he had just spoken righteously about going through fire and water for others, it was just an act. How could Wang Bang, who had lived his whole life, risk his life for someone he had never even met?

Although he didn't know why the woman behind the screen was so interested in Western affairs, Wang Bang still asked respectfully:

"What aspects of Western affairs are you interested in?"

The voice behind the screen remained silent for a moment before speaking again:
"Military! Political! Cultural! Diplomatic! Industrial! In short, every aspect!"

"Yes!"

"If you need anything in the future, go to Granny Song! And give all the information you gather to Granny Song!"

Hearing this, Wang Bang was secretly delighted and said:

"Thank you for your kind recognition. Wang Bang will certainly continue to work hard and live up to your expectations!"

As Wang Bang finished speaking, footsteps sounded from behind the screen. As the footsteps faded into the distance, Granny Song addressed Wang Bang:

"Mr. Wang, let's go!"

Listening to Granny Song's words, Wang Bang looked towards the screen with lingering interest. Although he didn't know what kind of beauty was behind the screen, he felt she must be someone unattainable...