The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 174 Proportion
Fang Xuanling whispered, "What if it is not limited to Guanzhong?"

Chang Sun Wuji said, "I haven't thought about it yet. What do you think, Prime Minister Fang?"

Taxation is related to the country and cannot be moved lightly. Fang Xuanling said: "It's very difficult."

Zhang Sun Wuji nodded and said, "It is very difficult. The grapes in Weibei and Jingyang have been harvested. The counties in Guanzhong have quite a few objections to the city's tax collection method. Some neighboring counties have already brought in militiamen, and the counties are about to fight each other."

Fang Xuanling hesitated and asked, "Does the prince know about this?"

"Most likely they know. Jingzhao Prefecture sent a memorial to the palace yesterday."

Fang Xuanling slowed down his pace and said, "There's a fight going on outside, but His Royal Highness the Crown Prince can still relax in Taiye Lake, remaining calm as always."

He whispered again: "Assistant, what's the situation outside?"

"When Xu Jingzong led his troops to attack, my men also arrived. We were able to have a say in the Guanzhong area. Then I asked Xu Jingzong to mediate. After my men came back, I did not report the details. I asked the two nearby counties to do the same as Weibei, and everyone was convinced."

Fang Xuanling smiled more and said, "No one has offended Jingzhao Prefecture. I'm afraid the Crown Prince is going to dismiss the county magistrates again. There are still a few counties in Guanzhong that have not been dismissed."

There is no problem with dismissal. Many officials in various counties were left over from the Wude period, and this just suits your majesty's wishes. You were worried about not having a reason at first, but it was the prince who made this happen.

The Crown Prince is still leisurely staying by the Taiye Lake, accompanying Your Majesty to escape the summer heat.

Your Majesty's family is so harmonious, and the father and son are safe and sound. I, Zhang Sun Wuji, have nothing else to ask for.

Fang Xuanling asked, "How is the situation in Guanlong?"

"The news I received two days ago was that His Majesty asked Duke Zheng to handle the Longyou affairs. Duke Zheng led his troops to Longyou and killed more than ten troops and captured a son of a powerful family. Finally, they dared not make trouble. Liu Rengui killed Yu Ning. Yu Ning was the commander of the Zhechoufu and naturally had contacts with local tyrants. These twists and turns were finally settled."

Fang Xuanling sighed, "It's hard for Lord Zheng. I don't know how his health is."

Changsun Wuji continued walking in silence, thinking about what had happened. How could Liu Rengui's matter be so simple? At the same time, he was worried that someone would come to take revenge.

Since Liu Rengui is the role model set up by Your Majesty, nothing must happen to him.

The two walked out of Suzaku Gate side by side, and then parted on Suzaku Street with their own thoughts.

Lying by the Taiye Lake with my father, the two were silent for a while, and the breeze under the shade of the trees was very comfortable.

After the rain stopped last night, it became extremely hot again at noon.

Li Shimin glanced at Li Zhi who was taking the children to take a nap, then looked back at his son beside him and said, "Why haven't I seen Qingque these days?"

Li Chengqian covered his face with a palm-leaf fan, so that he could feel more comfortable when closing his eyes. He lay on his back and said, "Father, Qingque is very busy compiling the Comprehensive Geography."

Feeling the wind blowing past, he continued, "Does your Majesty think that I recommended Wang Gui to the Prince of Wei's Palace because I was a spy planted by Qingque and that I know his every move?"

Li Shimin rested his head on his arms and said, "I have never thought of this."

Li Chengqian whispered, "It's not that I'm suspicious of you, father. You shouldn't be suspicious of me either. There are always many people around me who want to pass on messages. Some of them want to attract your attention, and some of them have ulterior motives, but they also have some self-righteous purposes."

"Therefore, I hope that you can trust me." Li Chengqian added, "Speaking of trust, you don't think too much about it. For example, Li Zhi is giving you homework right now, which is really for your own good."

As I was talking, I saw that my father didn't respond for a long time, most likely he fell asleep.

Li Chengqian simply stopped talking and closed his eyes to rest.

The duck swimming in the Taiye Lake stopped quacking. It cleverly walked to the cool water pavilion to avoid the hottest sunlight at that time.

In Chang'an City, as the midday heat faded away, it was approaching dusk.

The huge setting sun was hanging in the west, and it was not as hot as before.

There was a lot of noise outside the city of Chang'an, and a market was specially set up outside the city, which specialized in selling grapes.

Cartloads of grapes were placed on carts, and Dickson recorded the number of grapes delivered.

A woman and a strong man came pushing a cart.

Di Zhixun first took a look and said, "We won't collect market taxes from you farmers. Just go into the market with your sign and come out when you've sold everything."

The couple thanked him repeatedly and pushed the grapes into the market.

Seeing another man carrying a basket of grapes, Dickson said, "Grapes worth less than three hundred coins are also exempt from market tax."

Watching his father's instructions one by one and seeing that the city taxes collected were not much, Di Renjie muttered: "How much city taxes can father collect in a day like this?"

Di Zhixun wiped the sweat from his forehead and said with a smile, "I can probably make ten strings of cash a day."

Seeing his son unhappy again, Di Zhixun asked, "Why, do you think I'm too nice to these farmers?"

Di Renjie sat on a small stool nearby, eating a peach, holding a branch in his hand and writing on the ground.

Seeing his son's expression, Di Zhixun patiently asked, "Do you think it is right for a father to collect even one cent of the city tax from them?"

Di Renjie lowered his head and wrote to himself, "I don't think so."

Di Zhixun put down the pen in his hand, took a sip of bitter summer-relief tea, and said with a smile: "Renjie, look at the smiles of these people more often. This is the best achievement of Jingzhao Prefecture, not how much city tax is collected."

Thinking that his son was still young and perhaps immature, Di Zhixun added: "I am doing everything according to the rules. These are also the rules of Jingzhao Prefecture. In other words, these people are the foundation of Jingzhao Prefecture. Apart from them, no one else in the court or the public will support Jingzhao Prefecture."

"With the support of the villagers in various counties, Jingzhao Prefecture is not afraid of offending any department or guard office in the court. This is the confidence, the confidence of not being afraid of anyone's criticism. This is also what the prince has always emphasized. Jingzhao Prefecture cannot act independently of these people. Once they are separated, the foundation of Jingzhao Prefecture will be gone."

Di Renjie's fat face was still looking at the ground, and the handwriting on the ground was a little messy.

Di Zhixun patted his good son's head and said, "Well, it's a very powerful skill. This is something that I couldn't learn when I was in Bianzhou and with your grandfather. Now that I have learned a little, it is enough to make me happy."

After saying that, Di Renjie looked up at his father, his eyes seemed to understand something. As far as his eyes could see, he saw the market outside Chang'an City. There were farmers hawking their goods and the sound of copper coins colliding during transactions. When someone in the market sold all his grapes, he would leave quickly with the money he earned.

Di Renjie looked up and saw that many residents of Chang'an City were constantly coming out of Chunming Gate to buy grapes.

In fact, it is at the other end of Chang'an City, which is Mingde Gate.

The business in front of Mingde Gate in the south of Chang'an City was even more bustling. Xu Jingzong and Shangguan Yi personally presided over the sales here. This was also a place dedicated to selling grapes, but it was not a market. Ordinary residents of Chang'an City would not come here to buy grapes, because those who gathered here were big merchants from all over the country east of Mount Xiao, and they needed to quickly pull the grapes to sell.

The bulk transactions here have not stopped in the past two days.

Xu Jingzong took the silver cake handed over by the other party, weighed it, and after confirming that it was real silver and the amount was sufficient, he waved his sleeves and said loudly: "Pull the goods, five stones of grapes."

Immediately, people from Jingzhao Prefecture pulled out the grapes, loaded the goods for the merchants, and let them leave.

There was a long queue at the back, with merchants waiting to transport goods. They were very anxious. In fact, they had been lingering before the grapes were ripe. After they were ripe, they immediately informed the Jingzhao Prefecture.

Xu Jingzong threw the silver cake in his hand into the basket beside him, and the sound of the silver cakes colliding was heard.

The next merchant took out a bundle, poured out the silver cakes and said, "I want ten shi." After Xu Jingzong weighed them, he said loudly, "Ten shi!"

The voice was much higher than before, and someone immediately pulled out the weighed grapes.

Yan Qinli and Shangguan Yi were recording the account books with their heads down. This person's pen never stopped writing. When the ink on the pen ran out, someone would immediately hand him a new pen.

The two of them just raised their hands slightly, took another pen, and quickly recorded the account book.

Except for those Guanzhong grapes that are left over, all the remaining ones must be sold as much as possible, and they must be sold quickly, otherwise the grapes will go out of freshness.

This is where the bulk of the market tax on grape trading in Guanzhong comes from.

In order to sell the grapes as quickly as possible, the market was arranged outside the city of Chang'an. After the curfew in the city, the transactions here continued.

Xu Jingzong took a few sips of water, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and said, "This is really exhausting."

By dawn, all the grapes were sold out.

Only then did Xu Jingzong go back to rest.

The prefect of Jingzhao, Li Daozon, was also in charge of trading in villages in various counties, and grapes from Guanzhong were delivered in carts after carts by fast horses.

It was not until September in Guanzhong that this grand grape trading conference ended.

The Jingzhao Prefecture was filled with copper coins and silver cakes, and the transaction price of grapes was mostly around 40 coins per pound.

This price is neither cheap nor expensive, but it is nearly 30% lower than last year.

Everyone knows that grapes in Guanzhong will only become cheaper and cheaper.

Farmers now sell grapes as much as they can, but no one knows how much the grapes will sell for in the future.

Xu Jingzong said angrily: "It sells for 40 coins in Guanzhong, but these people sell it for 80 coins in Xiaoshan! This is too much."

Yan Qinli watched the baskets of silver cakes being delivered to Jingzhao Prefecture, and said with a smile, "Xu Shaoyin was grinning from ear to ear last night, why is he so angry today?"

The sound of an abacus could be heard from the yamen; it was Yu Zhining who was checking the general ledger.

Yan Qinli knew Yu Zhining many years ago. He whispered, "Should these account books be handed over to the court?"

Yu Zhining recorded an account and replied, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said that these accounts should be kept in Jingzhao Prefecture for use by the people and not be returned to the court for the time being. After they are sealed, the account books will be handed over to His Royal Highness."

When Yan Qinli heard the order, he immediately arranged for personnel.

After completing this task, Xu Jingzong, Guo Luotuo and Shangguan Yi once again came to Weibei, where all the grape vines had been harvested.

Guo Luotuo, Shangguan Yi, and Xu Jingzong are best friends and the closest of friends.

These three people fought together in Chang'an and were arrested together.

There is no friendship stronger than this one.

As for Xu Jingzong, one of the three, he looked at the empty grape racks, his nose felt sore and he actually started crying.

Shangguan Yi looked unhappy and asked, "Why are you crying again?"

The tears flowed through the dark circles under his eyes, Xu Jingzong wiped them and said, "I haven't had a good night's sleep for a long time."

Guo Luotuo rode forward, patted Xu Jingzong on the back, and said, "Old Xu, you are a very capable person."

Xu Jingzong cried even more sadly. His rough face was covered with messy beard. Because of running under the scorching sun these days, his originally delicate and neat goatee was now curled.

Xu Jingzong rode on the horse and choked up as he said, "It's sold out. It's finally sold out."

Shangguan Yi sighed, "Take a good rest for a few days. There will be many things to do after the beginning of autumn this year."

The three men rode back to Chang'an City and took a nice bath. Xu Jingzong was holding a small knife and trimming his beard. He wiped the blade on the coarse cloth beside him, leaving some broken beard and continued trimming.

Guo Luotuo put the clothes he had taken off into a basket and handed it to the servant in Master Du He's mansion. Then he sat silently by the side with a smile on his face.

Xu Jingzong kicked Shangguan Yi.

"What are you doing!" His face immediately darkened, and he added, "I'm not married yet, you don't have to kick me."

Xu Jingzong was in a very good mood, wearing only single clothes, and said, "I have inquired about it. You have been engaged for a long time, but you still haven't married. You are not a gentleman."

Shangguan Yi said angrily: "It's none of your business to take care of family affairs."

Seeing that Guo Luotuo put on his old clothes again, Xu Jingzong had expected this. He was just that kind of person who didn't want to trouble others for anything.

Even at Master Du He's house, both of them took their clothes away for washing and changing, but Guo Luotuo left his old clothes behind, and after putting them on, he left silently.

The court was on break, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince often came to the Secretariat to see if there were any documents delivered. This was part of his job in supervising the affairs of the court.

I didn’t see anyone else here today, but I saw my uncle.

Gao Shilian said with a smile: "I came here to see His Highness."

"When my uncle comes, he can go directly to the East Palace."

"If Your Highness is resting in the East Palace, I'm sorry to bother you."

Li Chengqian sat down at the seat of honor in the Secretariat and looked through the account book in front of him, which was written by Yu Zhining.

Gao Shilian said: "After Wen Yanbo met His Highness, he felt very disappointed."

Li Chengqian looked through the account book and asked in confusion, "Is there something wrong with what my grandson said at the time?"

"There's nothing wrong. It's just that after listening to his old man's talk about the imperial examination, the Crown Prince of the East Palace didn't say anything."

"Uncle." Li Chengqian poured a bowl of tea and handed it to him, saying, "My grandson knows his limits, so I didn't say anything."

Gao Shilian nodded with satisfaction, "Well, Your Highness did the right thing. The old gentleman is indeed too conservative and too old."

"How is your uncle's health lately?"

"They are all old illnesses that have been around for years. They are nothing serious."

"I'm finally done with my work this summer. Why don't you go to Taiye Lake for a walk?"

"No, I'm annoyed when I see your father."

(End of this chapter)