The Prodigal Son of Zhenguan

The eunuch quietly observed Li Fu's expression, and seeing that his expression was unchanged, he spoke again.

"Since I met your Highness today, can you enter the palace now? I can also report to your Majesty." The eunuch said.

"Okay, let me pack up first, and then I will follow you to the palace." Li Fu responded.

The palace affairs should be done as soon as possible.

There are only ten days left before the Chinese New Year, and Li Fu is thinking that there are many things to do before the New Year.

This year, he has made so much money, and it is a big deal to reward his subordinates.

When he first started doing these businesses, in order to attract talents, Li Fu painted a pie for others.

At the end of the year, no matter how much, let people have a taste of this pie first, so that they can work harder next year.

When Li Fu came to Chang'an, he also brought the box he prepared in Linying, which contained Li Fu's ideas about the future service area of ​​Linying County in recent days.

This matter really needs to be discussed with Li Shimin.

Now Li Fu follows a creed.

Do small business by yourself, and bring Li Shimin in for big business.

Otherwise, it will be bad if people say that he is rich enough to rival a country.

Anyone who says that he is rich enough to rival a country will not have a good end.

Pull Li Shimin together, make it bigger and stronger, and create more glory.

In this way, he will never be richer than the royal family.

Li Fu changed his clothes, held the box, got on the carriage, took Wu Liangye, and followed the eunuch who came to deliver the letter to the palace.

In the side hall of Liangyi Hall, Li Shimin was hiding behind the desk to handle government affairs.

The eunuch outside came in to report that King Jingyang had arrived.

"Let him in." Li Shimin said.

"Yes."

Soon, Li Fu held the box, walked into the side hall, and bowed.

"Your Majesty, I greet you."

"No need to be polite, sit down wherever you want." Li Shimin waved his hand.

Li Shimin dismissed his attendants, and the atmosphere in the hall suddenly eased.

Li Fu came to Li Shimin, pulled a cushion over, and sat on it.

Leaning against the charcoal basin, warm.

He put the box aside, rubbed his hands, and warmed himself around the charcoal basin.

"This weather is really cold." Li Fu said, and after his hands warmed up, he took off the bear skin cloak on his body and threw it aside.

The cold air was attached to the outer coat, and after taking it off, the whole body was warmer.

Li Shimin's eyes were always on Li Fu, and he looked at him for a long time.

"Thank you for your hard work in Linying County this time." Li Shimin said: "Thanks to you, the situation in Linying County has not become serious. I also saw the news that everything has returned to normal in Linying County. When the grain is harvested next year, it will be no different from the past."

Li Shimin saw that Li Fu was thinner than before, so he knew that his life in Linying was not very good.

But it's good for him to go through this, so that he won't be greedy for enjoyment in Chang'an City and don't know how to do some serious things every day.

Now that he has gone to this trip and settled the matter in Linying, he will have achievements in both civil and military affairs in the future.

Li Shimin thought so, which was also the problem of the old Li family, who wanted people to be both civil and military.

Li Fu smiled helplessly: "Yes, it took a year to recover, but I don't think it's too good."

"What do you mean?" Li Shimin asked.

"I just remembered this time, and I felt quite emotional. The Tang Dynasty ended the chaos. Now the people of the Tang Dynasty no longer suffer from war, but the family assets are so weak that it makes people sigh. A flood washed away all the family assets, and within a year, they recovered to the same level as before. This does not mean that the court is effective in disaster relief, but that the people's families have no assets. Apart from people, there are still a few earthen houses and land for growing crops. The rest, there is nothing to lose."

After listening to Li Fu's words, Li Shimin also fell into a brief silence.

He knew it well, but he knew more clearly that if he wanted to change all this, the court had to do practical things, but it also had to give the court a certain amount of time.

Such things are not achieved overnight.

"No more in the future." Li Shimin just said this lightly.

"I also believe that the Tang Dynasty will be better in the hands of my second brother." Li Fu smiled.

"Tell me about your situation in Linying County. Are you satisfied with the Sun Guinian I selected?" Li Shimin said.

Li Fu was confused.

What does the selection of the Linying County Magistrate have to do with him?

Is it important whether he is satisfied or not?

Seeing Li Fu's expression, Li Shimin smiled and said, "I know what you are confused about. Do you think the selection of the Linying County Magistrate is not good enough?", it has nothing to do with you, right?"

Li Fu nodded like a chick pecking at rice.

"It can't be said that it has nothing to do with you. After all, the new Linying County was rebuilt by you, Yan Lide, Jiang Que and others. I can't let you down. Therefore, in the list submitted by the Ministry of Personnel, an official with no background was selected. Everything is new." Li Shimin smiled confidently and said, "How about it, tell me what you think."

"I think that my second brother did the right thing." Li Fu smiled and said, "Everything is new. The future Linying City is also a brand new Linying City. After experiencing such hardships, the people of Linying City will be more united and contribute a common strength to their new home."

"I don't need to listen to your false and empty words. I want to hear the methods you came up with during your time in Linying City. You mentioned it in your letter." Li Shimin reminded: "The matter of the post station. "

When Li Fu wrote to Li Shimin, he mentioned something about the service area.

Although he didn't say much, Li Shimin couldn't help but think about it.

The more he thought about it, the more curious he became.

He knew that his cousin was a guy who would not do anything without profit.

"Oh, that one." Li Fu smiled, picked up his precious wooden box, put it on Li Shimin's desk, opened it, and took out the stack of papers from it.

"This is what I think." Li Fu said: "The picture is here, and the specific things I can think of are all here. It looks a bit messy. In fact, it is quite messy. I haven't had time to reorganize it. At that time, I was in Linying County, and I wrote whatever I thought of. You can just make do with it. "

Li Shimin's attention was attracted by the papers. He picked up the drawings drawn by Li Fu, compared them with Li Fu's ideas, and looked at them one by one.

After a long time, Li Shimin looked up at Li Fu.

"Have you ever thought about the money and food that would be spent on building such a post station?" Li Shimin asked.

"I have thought about it." Li Fu nodded: "It must be a lot. The scale is obvious. The manpower and material resources for subsequent maintenance are all costs."

"Then do you think it is possible?" Li Shimin asked: "You even want to have such a place in the towns of the entire Tang Dynasty. How much will it cost?"

"Why is it impossible? "Li Fu asked back: "It's not that this thing is not profitable if it is placed there. Caravans traveling from north to south, travelers, and even the imperial court can use it to pass messages and transport supplies. It can be combined with the traditional imperial court post stations. I think it's okay to invest more in the early stage. Moreover, the post stations can provide local people with additional ways to make money, such as selling supplies to the post stations or working directly in the post stations. "

"It's not appropriate to call this thing a post station. I think it should be called a service area." Li Fu continued: "Post stations are for supplying the imperial court. On the way to deliver messages, people can rest and change horses. Service areas serve the public, whether it's the imperial court, caravans, or ordinary people."

"The subsequent income is the income generated by the caravans stopping at the service area. After all, they need supplies when traveling from north to south..."

"According to what you said, the role of the service area for the caravans, in addition to providing them with a place to stay, is also a middleman for transactions between local people and caravans. "Li Shimin said.

The service area is responsible for purchasing materials from local people, whether for their own use or for sale to merchants, merchants can buy all of them at the post station at once.

Local people can also receive money directly from the post station, without the effort of looking for other buyers, saving time.

The materials sold by the service area to merchants must be sold to merchants at a price higher than the purchase price.

This is another source of income for the service area.

"The inns, restaurants, and temporary rental of warehouses in the service area are all profitable." Li Fu said: "As for the stables, since they are resting in the service area, the horses will be fed for free. At that time, local people can be hired to make some fodder and sell it to the service area. For the local people, there is another source of income."

"There is both income and expenditure. Do you think this can be done?" Li Fu said: "The expenditure of building the service area in the early stage is a one-time deal. The subsequent maintenance of manpower and material resources can not only be maintained by income, but also create profits."

"In addition, this is just my initial idea. "Li Fu said.

"The initial idea? Is there a follow-up?" Li Shimin was surprised.

Just these papers in his hand are enough to shock people.

There is more?!

"Second brother, do you know Qin Zhidao?" Li Fu asked with a smile.Now that we have service areas, shouldn't we also have the ancient version of expressways in the future? !

What should we do after the country is strong?

Build infrastructure!

National infrastructure!

And it would be best if it is infrastructure without corvée.

In this way, the people will have work to do and earn money, and after the infrastructure is improved, it will feed back to the court, which will also be beneficial to the court.

News that could be delivered in ten days can now be delivered in seven days.

Don't underestimate these three days.

Materials that could be delivered in a month can now be delivered in half a month.

If you want to be rich, build roads first, have more children and plant more trees!

The Qin State built highways across the country, but what is more powerful than the highways is the Qin Straight Road.

Rammed earth as the foundation, gravel paved, the loess on the surface was fried, and there were roadside stones on both sides of the road.

A Qin Straight Road was used until the Qing Dynasty.

There was no grass growing on it after more than two thousand years.

Li Shimin nodded slightly.

"Of course I know this. After the Qin Dynasty unified the country, it built highways throughout the country, and then ordered the construction of straight roads. Until now, both the highways built by the Qin Dynasty and the straight roads have been used." Li Shimin said, "Why are you talking about this?"

Build a road?

"If the Tang Dynasty is strong in the future, and builds roads across the country, the standard will be based on the pre-Qin straight roads, or even flatter than the straight roads. What do you think, brother?" Li Fu said with a smile.

Li Shimin sighed helplessly.

"Your idea is good, but if I really order it to be done, how is it different from Emperor Yang of Sui?" Li Shimin said, "This matter must not be done."

Now it was Li Fu's turn to be surprised.

I didn't expect Li Shimin to think of Emperor Yang of Sui.

Emperor Yang of Sui opened the Grand Canal, and Emperor Taizong of Tang built the straight road. If one of them is not done well, it might really be...

But Li Fu didn't think it was that complicated.

The premise of building roads he said was "strong national strength."

But in Li Shimin's mind.

When Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty dug the canal, the Sui Dynasty was also "strong and powerful".

So, he associated these two things together.

You can't do this.

"Brother Fu, your second brother wants to be a wise ruler." Li Shimin said to Li Fu: "Don't harm your second brother."

Li Shimin had no choice. He sat in this position and he couldn't not be a wise ruler.

Otherwise, the infamy of the ages was waiting for him.

"It's really too early to bring up this matter now, and this plan is too big." Li Fu said seriously: "It's true that my brother didn't think it through."

Li Fu decided not to mention this matter for the time being. Anyway, there will be opportunities in the future.

Take it step by step.

Li Shimin's consideration was not wrong. He couldn't take too big a step, otherwise he would end up like Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty.

But to put it bluntly, Li Shimin still didn't dare to think about it.

If he dared to think, the work of road construction would not need to be done by the people of the Tang Dynasty.

Silla, Baekje, Goguryeo, and Japan.

There are plenty of workers.

Why can't we expand our thinking?

Be bolder, think boldly, and make bold assumptions.

But it's useless to say anything now, just wait.

Even the Turks haven't been dealt with yet, so how can we have the time to take care of those places.

"But this service area, I think, has great potential." Li Fu turned the topic to the service area again.

Even if it can't be done throughout the Tang Dynasty, it's okay to let Linying County do a pilot first.

Operate it for one or two years, see the situation, and see what the feedback is.

If it's possible, then vigorously develop it.

"First, build one in Linying County." Li Fu said, "If my second brother thinks it's not feasible, then I will build this service area in Linying County with my own money. It will not be combined with the imperial post station for the time being. I will be responsible for my own profits and losses."

"But if we do this, it may lead to a consequence. That is, once it is built, it will be too easy for people to imitate it. At that time, everyone will follow suit. If the imperial court wants to intervene, I am afraid it will face some problems."