At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

Guo Jin nodded in agreement, and then asked tentatively: "Arjun's matter, does father think it's okay to start making arrangements now?"

Guo Peng nodded after a moment of silence.

"When your mother and I come back from the Western Regions and arrive in Jiaozhou, I will give you news. At that time, you can ask Arjun to join us in Jiaozhou. After all, we need to meet once. I don't know when I'll see you again."

Guo Jin opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something again, but she didn't say it in the end.

He understands Guo Peng, and Guo Peng understands him. There is no need to say such things.

"During this time, make preparations and see if there is anything missing. This is a major national event, not a trivial matter. You should not take it lightly. You also need the people from the Ministry of Finance to figure out whether you can support the two brothers' overseas development at the same time. , even if you have the gold and silver on Wajima Island, you can’t be extravagant, understand?”

"My son understands."

The last big stone in Guo Jin's heart fell.

Chapter 1508 One thousand four hundred and forty-eight Guo Peng wants to give them some compensation

After the farewell was over, Guo Peng boarded the carriage, and under the escort of a thousand elite imperial cavalry, he headed towards the west of the empire.

This time was different from the previous Northern Expedition.

During the Northern Expedition, even if there was a war, government affairs still had to be dealt with, and there were still many things to deal with.

This time, Guo Peng wrote a plan and handed it over to Yuan Si even if it was a matter of the academic department, and asked Yuan Si to do what he said, and to report regularly. , without being soft-hearted.

Don't think that I can handle errands without being in the capital!

Yuan Si was looking at Guo Peng's away royal chariot with a sad face at the moment, thinking about how to deal with the many tasks Guo Peng left for him.

The Supreme Emperor said that he traveled far away, but Yuan Si believed that his eyes and ears were everywhere, and if he slack off, he would definitely know, and then remote control the new emperor to severely punish the academic department...

How are you going to live this day!

Yuan Si's face turned into bitter melon early in the morning.

He didn't even know how to complete so many tasks and so many targets assigned to him by Guo Peng when Guo Peng was not around.

How many new schools have been built, how many school-age children are enrolled in school, the progress of the course compilation of Gephysics, etc.

Bitter too, bitter too!

What can I do...

Guo Peng was not ignorant of Yuan Si's suffering, but he didn't want to talk to Yuan Si at all.

He just wanted to assign him many, many tasks, keeping him so busy that he didn't even have time to eat, so that he wouldn't have to worry about some moths.

The last time Guo Peng left Luoyang was the inspection when he was the emperor, in order to inspect the Grand Canal project.

After becoming emperor, he ran around less and less, not only to deal with government affairs, but also to sit in the central government, control the central army, coerce the world, and stabilize the situation.

Sitting in the center to control the situation is the most important thing for an emperor to do, and running all over the world will not only waste people and money, but may also cause a crisis of imperial power and unnecessary risks.

Therefore, what the ministers look forward to most is that the emperor will stay in the palace all his life and never come out. It will be safe and reliable, and they will not find out that they are messing around in the local area.

As time went by, the centralization of power became weaker and weaker, and a large number of local elements entered the central government, which eventually led to the collapse of imperial power.

It is actually quite necessary for the emperor to go out for inspections. No matter from which point of view, it is like a lion patrolling its own territory and leaving a mark. It appears from time to time, so that the common people can more directly understand who they are ruled by.

The emperor lived in the capital, and there were hundreds of thousands of miles away from all parts of the country. As the distance became longer, the ruling power of the empire gradually weakened, and the saying that the sky was high and the emperor was far away appeared in the border areas.

Moreover, the Chinese imperial power did not go to the countryside for most of the time in the feudal monarchy era in 2000, and never directly ruled the bottom peasants. Those who directly ruled the bottom peasant households were often [Xiangxian].

So it's not unreasonable for people not to be emperors. Who told you that you can't control them at all?

The limited number of emperors in history who extended their hands to the homes of low-level peasants were all "tyrannical kings" without exception.

It is true that such an emperor may not be kind to the common people, but such an emperor is definitely not kind to the bureaucrats. The bureaucrats don't care how the emperor treats the common people, they only care about how the emperor treats himself.

An emperor who treats people and bureaucrats equally is definitely not a good emperor—they think so.

Fortunately, there are very few such emperors, so the bureaucrats are always happy.

And Guo, as a member of this very small group, a tyrant among tyrants, has always wanted to personally inspect his country and visit every inch of the country.

It's just that for him, during the 13 years he ruled the empire, there was really no more time to do such things.

Fortunately he is still alive.

After Guo Jin succeeded to the throne and showed Guo Peng that he had the ability to solve problems and master power, Guo Peng could finally leave Luoyang with peace of mind and do what he always wanted to do but had no time to do.

Yu Gong can inspect various places to strengthen their centripetal force to the central government of the empire, and check the effect of policy implementation, education construction results, and whether there are any injustices in the local areas.

In private, he really wanted to use the rest of his life to make up for the women who had been with him for a long time.

Now that he is not an emperor, he can treat the women around him a little bit in a normal way.

Whether it is Cao Lan, or Tian Rou, Xia Houlin, or the big and small bridge sisters.

After so many years, the youngest of them is in his 30s and almost 40 years old, and he is not young anymore.

In this era where the average life expectancy is very short, no one dares to say that they can live to their seventies and eighties, and if they can live to their forties or fifties, it will be considered a worthwhile life.

They don't know how long they can live, so when they are alive, at least do what they want to do.

This tour, in fact, can also be called a walk-and-go trip, which belongs to Mr. Guo's own walk-and-go trip.

Stop and go all the way, stop and go, Guo Peng was in a very happy mood, just like an eagle escaped from the cage where it was imprisoned, and was able to fly high and return to nature. The feeling of detachment from everything was very pleasant .

Not to mention Guo Peng, Guo Peng still has the freedom to go out anyway. If he really wants to go out, no one can stop him, which is his own freedom.

However, concubines are bound in the palace, and they have to make a report and wait for approval when they go out. It is as difficult as going out of the palace once.

Obviously living in the same city with their family members, it is very rare to meet them once, and it may not last long. Usually, someone will watch by them to prevent them from revealing information that should not be disclosed to their families.

Guo Peng himself is busy with government affairs, and all his energy is spent on fighting wits and courage with his courtiers. The remaining energy is very limited. Even if he is in good health, he can't keep up mentally.

When I get older, I don't always think about doing things in bed, and I don't accompany them a few times a month. I go there occasionally to eat and sleep, and basically don't take care of their needs.

Whether it is physical or psychological. , They don't care too much about it, they can only entertain themselves, huddling together inside the cold palace wall to keep warm.

It can be said that it is very inhumane to put them in the palace.

Now I can finally leave Luoyang, the center of the power vortex, and return to a place where I can indulge and be free. For a while, everyone let go of their little girl-like mentality. Looking here and there, I don’t know how happy and happy they are.

The same is true for Guo Chengzhi, who was under strict supervision by Guo Jin in Luoyang, and was required to carry out high-intensity learning tasks.

Even if Guo Peng later took over his educational task, he didn't give him any chance to relax.

it is really hard.

This time, he left Luoyang, away from the harsh education of his parents, and enjoyed the long-lost feeling of freedom by the side of his loving grandmother.

So Sa Huan rode around on horseback, not knowing how enjoyable it was.

They are all very happy.

Seeing their happiness, Guo Peng was also very happy.

The nerves that have been stretched for decades are slowly relaxed during this process, and I feel as if I have ushered in the second spring of my life.

They traveled all the way west, and when they were eating, if they could meet a city, they would change their clothes and go into the city to find a place to eat.

If you can't meet it, you can also find hotels and restaurants along the way. If you haven't, then you can simply solve it on the spot.

Every time he passed a city, Guo Peng would send his entourage to buy some supplies.

They carry a lot of things with them, but the food does not have such a long shelf life, so in addition to asking the warehouses in the cities along the way to provide military rations, Guo Peng will also let the accompanying eunuchs enter the city to buy supplies and buy some things that are not in the warehouses.

Occasionally, when he encounters a beautiful field, he is interested, and he will personally show a barbecue skill that he has not shown for a long time.

He still remembers that the last time he had a barbecue in the wild was nearly 40 years ago.

At that time, he was still a boy in his teens. When he was protecting Cai Yong's exile in Bingzhou, he showed his barbecue skills, but he met the assassin who wanted to kill Cai Yong.

After that, he didn't have the opportunity to show off his barbecue skills. After becoming a leading general, there was always no shortage of craftsmen who could barbecue and barbecue under his command, and it was not his turn to do it himself.

This time it was a complete relaxation, and it was rare to be in a good mood, so the eunuchs of the inner court were asked to make a good appearance, set up a barbecue pit, light up the coals, and start grilling by themselves.

In the former Han Dynasty, because there were no iron pots and no cooking, so barbecue was an important cooking skill besides steaming, and people with conditions in the whole country would engage in barbecue.

In addition to the traditional fire grill, they will also prepare delicious seasonings to make a barbecue similar to modern teppanyaki.

This model is especially liked by the well-to-do groups like gentry literati——

They always eat steamed food, and the soup is a bit unpleasant to eat, so they get some strong barbecue to improve their lives.

Today, the popularity of iron pans and the appearance of soy sauce have allowed cooking to enter the homes of ordinary people. Ordinary people can also set up a frying pan to moisten their dry stomachs every now and then.

The increase and improvement of seasonings have also added more partners to the simple taste of salt, allowing the delicious taste to enter the homes of ordinary people.

People have long passed the era when they could not eat salt, and now even soy sauce can be tasted every now and then. It is also good to eat a fried braised dish with the whole family and smack your lips.

It is really embarrassing to think back to the era when eating salt was a problem.

Salt and iron monopoly is actually not a very friendly policy for ordinary people.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty engaged in the monopoly of salt and iron in order to collect people's wealth across the country to support the huge military expenditures against the Huns, which almost exhausted the folk savings of the Wenjing era, in exchange for that great victory.

The monopoly of salt and iron, especially the sale of salt, is a great contribution.

Chapter 1509 One thousand four hundred and forty nine

In order to pay the military expenses for the crusade against the Huns, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty tried his best to make money. It was against this background that the salt and iron monopoly was born.

People can't live without salt, but they don't need to eat so much salt. It doesn't matter if it's crudely produced, or it doesn't matter if it's short of catties or taels. As long as you can eat a little salt, you won't die.

So the salt and iron franchise store at that time was called a pit.

It is short of selling unprocessed poisonous salt for people to eat in exchange for high military expenditures.

It is unimaginable how profitable it is to buy those poorly made salt at an expensive price.

But at the same time, the reputation of the salt and iron monopoly was also damaged.

The reputation of the salt and iron monopoly is so bad, it is obvious that it has been corrupted since the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

For higher profits, without worrying about market competition, the quality of the goods can be imagined, and the poor living conditions of the people at that time can also be imagined.

Guo Peng's salt and iron monopoly is to search for the whole people under his rule, and at the same time to search for wealth from them to expand the military power to pacify the world, which is similar to the purpose of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

For the unification of the world, he did no less than Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. He did most of the things that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty did.

But to be honest, from all angles, he is really not as fierce as Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and what he does is far more kind than Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

In order to defeat the Xiongnu, Liu Che used all means to search for wealth. That is to say, in that era, common people and princes and nobles were treated equally in the eyes of the emperor.

In his opinion, no matter what the princes, nobles and common people, you are all a piece of meat around my mouth, as long as I tear it, you will obediently enter my stomach.

He made white deer coins for princes and nobles and his own people, used deerskin to search for their wealth, and scraped off the fat on their bodies layer by layer, which made the princes and nobles miserable and burst into tears.

For ordinary people, the salt and iron monopoly is used to search for wealth, and heavy taxes are imposed. The more property the more taxes are paid.

In order to deal with the problem of hiding wealth, the people are encouraged to inform each other, and the successful informants and the emperor share the property of the informants equally.

Then came up with things like salt and iron monopoly, using inferior necessities to search for the wealth of the whole world, and pocketing the wealth of the whole world bit by bit into their own pockets, the food looks extremely ugly.

This is not enough. In order to pay for the huge military expenses of the bottomless pit, he also sold officials and nobles, not only selling the positions of officials, but finally simply selling the positions of officials, making the administration of officials in the middle and late period of Emperor Wu a mess and corrupt.

With the productivity level of more than 300 years ago, he has achieved things that Guo Peng would find extremely difficult to do 300 years later.

It is conceivable to what extent the wealth of the whole country was looted by him at that time.

Without the accumulation and recuperation of Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing for decades, the Han Empire really couldn't stand Liu Che's toss.

Of course, at this price, he won the Xiongnu war, straightened the backbone of a country and a nation, and prevented the Han Empire from being blackmailed and militaryly deterred by the Huns, and played the mentality of the heavenly kingdom.

Compared with him, Mr. Guo, who has enjoyed the bonus of productivity improvement, is indeed a lot of kindness. At least at the level of salt and iron monopoly, the quality is strictly controlled.

Coastal people eat sea salt, while inland people eat well salt, mine salt, and lake salt.

Salt-producing areas have professional concentrated production salt-making factories, all of which have special departments in charge of production, and professionals are in charge of control. of.

Not to mention iron, it will not cause problems of lack of weight or low quality, so that people can't even turn the ground.

Moreover, in recent years, with the stabilization of production, technological innovation, and increase in output, the price of salt and iron monopoly has also been continuously reduced, which is much cheaper than when the people were squeezed out for the sake of unification.