An old lady's life

Emperor Changping announced in the early court that all salt will be sold at a fixed price for the court in the future, and no merchants are allowed to drive up the price. It will be implemented from June [-]. If any merchant raises the price privately, he will be punished according to the Taifeng Law.

Some officials in the court looked at each other in blank dismay, wondering why the emperor suddenly issued such a decree?Are you not afraid of the salt merchants rioting?

This part of the officials who were kept in the dark glanced at the entire court meeting. It seems that there are one-third more officials in the hall today than before. After thinking about it, it suddenly dawned on everyone that the emperor had already discussed it with most of the important officials, and those officials who were not in the emperor's eyes didn't know it at all.

Emperor Changping entrusted King Zhaojun to handle this matter, with King Zhaojun taking the lead and other people as assistants.

However, within two days, King Zhaojun had set up a special management department for salt, which was affiliated with the Ministry of Households. After all, the salt tax would still have to be paid to the Ministry of Households in the future.

The newly established department has a total of six people, including King Zhaojun and the Tenth Prince, for a total of eight people. On the very day of its establishment, an account book has already been submitted from a nearby county.

This courtyard located in Hubu was surrounded by a group of soldiers who were dispatched by the emperor to protect the safety of King Zhaojun.

The tenth prince has grown into a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy. He is now working with King Zhaojun. In just these two days, he has already felt that the burning eyes of his brothers can almost burn his entire back.

In the middle of the afternoon, the tenth prince went back to the palace, met King Gong at the gate of the palace, and then met King Qin and King Yu in the imperial garden, and received love from the three elder brothers.

Prince Gong patted him on the shoulder with relief and said, "Old Ten, you have grown up too, and you can share your father's worries and labors, and follow Lao Qi well."

The tenth prince smiled foolishly: "Fifth brother is right, tenth brother will not disappoint father and seventh brother."

Prince Gong still looked very relieved, the two said a few words and parted ways, the tenth prince scratched his head and entered the palace with a smile on his lips.It's just that the eighth brother and the ninth brother are not as easy to talk to as the fifth brother, but it's okay, he knows in his heart that he can cope with the happy face of the eighth brother and the ninth brother, and he needs to be vigilant when the third brother and the fifth brother are like this.

At the end of last year, the harem was collectively promoted. The ninth prince Yujun and the tenth prince, mother and concubine were canonized as one of the six concubines. , Prince Yu has never waited to see the Tenth Prince.

Back in the harem, the tenth prince went to see his mother and concubine. When Concubine Fang Rong saw her son, she immediately ordered the palace servants to prepare food. After busy work, she did not stop talking, telling thousands of words.

"The emperor has started to run errands, but you must be careful and don't cause trouble for King Zhaojun." The tenth prince has heard Concubine Rong's words several times. Once, she nagged once, and the Tenth Prince was quite helpless about it.

Seeing her son's absent-minded appearance, Concubine Rong tugged at his ears, and said: "Mother Concubine said these words, you have to listen to your heart." The palace man set the meal, she drove everyone out of the room, and looked at her son While eating, continue to nag.

The tenth prince nodded solemnly: "Don't worry, Concubine Mu, I will do things with Brother Seven wholeheartedly, and ignore everything else."

Concubine Rong was very relieved, lowered her voice, and said: "Looking at what the emperor has done, I'm afraid I have high hopes for King Zhaojun, so don't have other ideas. The concubine's mother's family is not visible, so I can't give you more help. You have to rely on yourself for everything. The previous powerful people are gone, and you are not as lucky as King Zhaojun, so let's do things in a down-to-earth manner, earning a title of prince is enough."

The tenth prince blinked, paused his hands, and nodded: "Mother, don't worry, my son knows." He glanced at the location of the imperial study, "Even if my son has that ambition, he is not capable. Not everyone has the seventh brother. His ability, my son is very content."

Concubine Rong breathed a sigh of relief, and while her son was having dinner, she ordered many things.

Before the tenth prince left, Concubine Rong patted him on the head: "Mother and concubine are fine in the palace, don't worry, do things well with King Zhaojun." She smiled and took a step closer, her voice a little softer , "You have to be careful of the other elder brothers playing tricks on you and King Zhaojun, and don't go to those fireworks places. If the mother and concubine find out, I can't forgive you."

She also wants to leave a good name for her son and marry a good daughter-in-law in the next year or two.

Although the prince doesn't worry about marriage, after all, marriage is a good thing for two surnames. She wants her son to live happily.

The tenth prince smiled and said: "I would like to follow the order of my mother and concubine, don't worry, my son understands." He has not opened the mansion yet, if he does not return to the palace, he will rest in the Seventh Brother's mansion.

There are no messy women in Brother Qi's house, he is as comfortable as in his own home.

Back at the prince's residence, the tenth prince was entangled by his two younger brothers, and after playing with them for a while, he returned to his own courtyard. He didn't want to see a palace maid dressed in white with her face turned into a ghost the moment she stepped into the courtyard gate. Sad for the moon.

The tenth prince's face darkened, as if he had never seen a woman?The eunuch who served him personally went over to catch the maid and started cursing, alarming the palace people in the whole courtyard.

The tenth prince didn't care about the rest of the matter, and he went out of the palace the next day to live in Zhaojun Prince's Mansion.

Knowing the reason, King Zhaojun nodded and said: "Then you will live in the mansion for these two months, and after two months, when the dust settles down, there won't be so many ghosts."

The tenth prince deeply believed that the palace servants in his yard had always been well controlled, it made no sense that they hadn't thought of climbing into bed before, and now they had a sudden epiphany.

I don't know who came up with the bad idea this time. The third brother should have no time to take care of it. Since the incident of the Zhen family, the third brother's energy seems to have been taken out by half. He should not care about making trouble for him. It seems It is the other three brothers.

After that, the Tenth Prince seldom stepped into the palace except for occasionally entering the palace during the day to greet his parents.Of course, staying with King Zhaojun was also a thrilling experience. Some people would even do such things as assassinate the prince for profit.

In the matter of cheap salt, Emperor Changping was also very scrupulous about salt merchants, fearing that they would take risks. However, his seventh son, Lin Hai and others were in the coastal area, and in the past two years, they have stored countless salts. It has already been shipped to various places, and many people have been sent to make preparations. Just waiting for the government's decree, looking at the eloquent seventh son, Emperor Changping couldn't say that he would not reform the salt administration.

However, he did not expect that these salt merchants would be so bold as to assassinate the prince, which would be tantamount to plucking the tiger's head, which completely angered Emperor Changping. Before that, Emperor Changping planned to treat the salt merchants preferentially, but after several assassinations, he The heart that was still a little hesitant suddenly became firm.

He is indeed old. When he was young, the road of seizing the heirloom was full of countless hardships and dangers, but he went through all kinds of difficulties and finally succeeded in ascending to the throne.

In April, at Caishikou in the west city of the capital, many officials were beheaded, including businessmen and court officials. They belonged to different factions, but only the second rank was the highest rank here. There are several nobles with titles in Beijing, and the titles passed down from their ancestors were taken away by Emperor Changping.

Especially in Jingxianghou's Mansion, his family's title is hereditary, and he will not be downgraded to inherit the title, because at this time, Emperor Changping has taken away the hereditary Danshu iron certificate, which is the same as other nobles.

After the founding of Dafeng, when the Tai/Zu was granted the title, the eight founders of the country like the Rongguo Mansion were all downgraded to take over the nobility. Their contribution is not the greatest, but the two who followed Tai/Zu when they first started The two sworn brothers beside Tai/Zu, in order to show the importance Tai/Zu attached to the two brothers, granted them the title of Marquis, and they were hereditary replacements.

Originally, there were only two Marquis Mansions. If they kept their own place, Emperor Changping would not tolerate others. However, the Jingxiang Marquis Mansion insisted on getting involved in the assassination of the prince, thinking that there was an iron certificate in the book of pills, and the emperor would take the Jingxiang Marquis Mansion. Is there no way?Tai/Zu can bestow titles, he can also take them back, this is not impossible!

In the wrath of the heavens, millions of corpses are buried and blood is shed for thousands of miles. In peaceful years, if it were not for the frontiers, it would be difficult for ordinary people to see the scene of millions of corpses and bloodshed for thousands of miles. To the horror of the whole city, it seems that the emperor is indeed furious.

The common people clapped their hands and cheered for this, and looked forward to the arrival of June [-]st.

King Xiangjun and King Gongjun could only sit at home and sulk. There are many salt merchants under their names, and they get a lot of filial piety from salt merchants every year. Now the way of salt merchants to get money is ruined. Where should they get their money from?

Hongye has been paying attention to the development of the situation. As expected, every kind of reform is not easy. When the interests of others are violated, even if it is the king of heaven, those people dare to take risks. Fortunately, Dafeng has developed to the point where it is today. As far as the emperor is concerned, even if someone has objections, no one dares to attack the emperor.

But people who are not clear-headed think that getting rid of the instigator, King Zhaojun, can restore normalcy?Don't forget that this was announced by Emperor Changping in the early court. If it is not carried out in the future, how will the people of the world think of Emperor Changping?

Emperor, keep your word!

When Jia Amnesty came back from the outside, he came to talk to his mother. Now he knew what Lin Hai and King Zhaojun had done, and every time he thought about it, he was terrified.

But from Huimin's point of view, this is a great thing!

"Mother, the teahouses and taverns on the street are talking about the reform of the salt policy, and the news about what King Zhaojun and Ruhai have done has spread throughout the world." Jia Amnesty is very worried. In the past month, King Zhaojun has suffered With no less than five assassinations, I don't know if Lin Hai is peaceful?

Hong Ye shook her head and said, "Don't worry, Lin Hai is not a vegetarian either." Besides, with the wormwood around, it doesn't matter how many assassins come, but the wormwood finally got the cheap salt that he longed for.

"Ruhai is brave enough to keep his mouth shut for two years." Jia She caressed his smooth chin. He doesn't have a beard now, because he wants to hold a child, and the beard hurts, and the child doesn't like it.

"However, I don't blame him. It's better that we don't know about this matter." Anyway, the Rong Mansion has nothing to do with the salt merchants, and there is only one relative, the second brother-in-law Xue's family. This area involves less, and dabbles more in ceramics, flowers, etc. After all, the imperial palace uses a lot of porcelain and other areas. Without the business of salt, it will not make the Xue family's wealth much less.

Hong Ye nodded: "It's good that you know." She glanced at Jia She, and then asked, "When will Zhou Chao and the others come back?"

Jia Amnesty didn't know why his mother asked Zhou Chao and the others, but he didn't think too much about it, so he said, "This time the ship will travel farther, and we won't be able to return until after October."

Hongye nodded. This time, Zhou Chao and the others sailed to the east, not to the west. They had to explore everything by themselves, and they didn't know if they could reach North America.

"Boss, how about we buy an island in the sea?" Hong Ye said slowly, she actually wanted to mention this matter a long time ago, but the meal has to be eaten bite by bite.

Jia Amnesty looked puzzled and said, "Mother, what are you doing buying islands? We live in the capital, and buying islands is useless. Besides, islands can't be bought just because you want to. The imperial court is very strict about this."

The imperial court held the rights and interests of the sea in their hands. On the surface, Jia She never knew that anyone, not even the clan prince, had bought the island. As for whether there was a secret operation behind the scenes, he didn't know.

Hongye frowned: "Help me pay attention to the sale of the island in the future." Is the imperial court not paying attention to it, or is there some other purpose, so this is why the private sale of the island is not open?

Jia She rolled his eyes and leaned in front of his mother and asked, "Mom, what do you think, tell me, otherwise I won't be able to guess."

Hongye hesitated for a moment, still tugged at Jia She's ear, and spoke in a soft voice. A moment later, Jia She's eyes lit up, she fumbled for her chin, and kept nodding: "Don't worry, mother, I understand."

Jia Amnesty's heart was pounding. He thought he had thought far enough, but after his mother said that, he realized that he hadn't thought far enough. For the sake of his children and grandchildren, he would definitely let the Jia family have an island of their own. .

However, there is no rush for this matter. At the moment, we have to focus on the salt administration. In this way, the time is under the attention of thousands of people, and it is June.

On June [-]st, Hongye washed up, and while she was having breakfast, her maid, Xiangcao, ran over excitedly to report the matter. At dawn today, the price of all the salt in the major grain and oil shops has been adjusted to ten cents a catty , Compared with the previous price of fifty Wen a catty, it is indeed a great benefit to the people.

Moreover, the price of 45 Wen a catty used to fluctuate continuously. The salt merchants were in a good mood and there was a lot of salt in the village, so the price of salt was relatively cheap, but the cheapest time was not less than [-] Wen.But most of the time, the salt merchants will come up with some tricks to raise the price of table salt, often one price per day, up to [-] Wen per catty.

I heard that as soon as these grain and oil shops opened, common people flocked to them, and everyone bought several catties of salt, for fear that such cheap salt would only be a flash in the pan.

No matter what the officials in strong clothes say, the price of salt is fixed and sold. If there is no disaster affecting the production of salt, the price of salt will not increase, but the common people will not listen.

Half a month later, the matter of cheap salt has been settled in the capital, and in the early morning of this day, King Zhaojun left the capital with the ten princes and a group of entourage guards, and patrolled all the way around the capital to see if the matter of cheap salt has been implemented To every ordinary person, and the final stop is Jiangnan. After all, Jiangnan used to be a big taxpayer, especially the salt tax.

Of course, Emperor Changping not only sent King Zhaojun and the Tenth Prince, but also sent all his sons who could handle errands to inspect various places in Dafeng. Hands and feet, since you can't do hands and feet, you can only gain other aspects, such as a good reputation among the common people.

However, King Gong and others are destined to be disappointed. The initiator of this matter is King Zhaojun, the executor is also King Zhaojun, and the supporter is Emperor Changping. With the implementation of cheap salt, even Lin Hai became famous. Zhe Gong Junwang and others can only pick up the leaks, and their reputation is naturally not as good as the above few people.

The author has something to say: Good night~