Tang's dining table

Li Hong was strong and he quickly arrived in Lintong in two days and one night.

At this time, Yun Chu took the lame bay red horse and was able to leave Mount Tai.

While on the road, Li Hong was keenly aware of something wrong. Originally, there were merchants coming and going on the official road from Chang'an to Luoyang day and night.

This time, there were only merchants going to Chang'an, and few merchants going to Luoyang. Even these merchants going to Chang'an, most of them did not carry goods, but hurried on with sad faces.

When the Prince's cavalry arrived in Lintong, the last place to hit the top before entering Chang'an was now overcrowded. It was also overcrowded before, but this time it was different. Many people looked gloomy, and it was no longer famous for drinking here in Lintong. of pomegranate wine, and no longer enjoy the delicious pasta here.

Even if someone is eating, they always ask the waiter for a bowl of hot soup and eat it with the dry food they brought.

The waiters in the restaurant are not difficult, and will give a bowl of hot soup to anyone who asks for it.

The restaurant manager sat behind the tall counter with a sad look on his face, boringly sorting out the ledger with no input.

Li Hong sent someone to ask, but he only got a bad answer.

When does the world become bad?

When Emperor Gaozu raised troops from Taiyuan and marched into Chang'an, the world was not in good shape.

When the Xue brothers and Taizong fought fiercely in Chang'an, the world was not good.

When the Turkic Khan Jieli led 200,000 Turkic cavalry to mount the Weihe River, the world was in bad shape.

This time, the Chang'an Liushui brand exploded, and unexpectedly it was also classified into the category of "bad people".

This made the Yonghui prosperous age that the literati of the Tang Dynasty had boasted for many years become a slap in the face of Li Hong, the prince of the Tang Dynasty.

When he came here, Taifu Xu made it very clear that the original Liushui brand in Chang'an only maintained a very weak layer of trust, and this trust was brought by Yun Chu.

If this meager trust can be maintained until Yunchu takes office again, then there is a high possibility that it will continue to be maintained in the future.

Xu Jingzong even believed that the reason why Yun Chu resigned from office and became a monk was to test the emperor's trust in him, and at the same time, it was also testing the trust of the aristocratic family in him.

As a result, this thin, almost transparent protective layer was broken by Li Xian's foot.

When Li Hong left Lintong, he had already decided to beat Li Xian severely when he saw him. This time, no matter how he cried and begged for mercy, he would never relent.

Li Hong went directly to Qujiang City next to Qujiang City. Since the Liushui sign was erected in Qujiang City, the brick kilns, papermaking and other workshops here have been moved away. Originally, there should have been a tall chimney smoking for trade. The heating was provided, but at this time there was no smoke from the chimney.

Master has said before that once the central heating equipment starts running, it cannot be stopped at will. Once it stops, the entire heating equipment will be destroyed due to the cold winter climate in Chang'an.

Now, it has stopped.

Qujiang City's originally grand cable-stayed bridge that could be stowed away at any time now hung two tattered corpses on the iron chains, with more than a dozen fat crows squatting side by side on both sides of the corpses.

They found out that Li Hong was coming, so they stopped pecking at the corpse. They planned to wait for Li Hong to leave before continuing to feast on the carrion.

Li Hong looked at the corpses with missing eyes, mouth and nose for a while, and then said to the guards: "Untie them and return them to their families. The fault lies with Yong Wangxian. Although they have to bear the responsibility of not admonishing or admonishing, the laws of the Tang Dynasty have not been suspended." Responsibility for expressing anger."

The agile guards immediately climbed up the iron rope, and in a moment they untied the two hanging corpses and handed them back to the families of the deceased who had long been unable to drive away the crows.

Li Hong has been to Qujiang City more than once before, and he even learned the operating rules of the Liushui brand from the big shopkeeper Zeng Fu in Qujiang City.

He habitually glanced at the two cargo yards to the east and found that the mountains of goods that used to be piled up were now gone. Only a few fat crows that had just squatted on the iron ropes were left pacing in the empty cargo yards.

Li Hong swallowed a mouthful of saliva and said to himself: "The problem is serious, it's not just about money, there's also a big problem with the goods.

For a trading market, there are two most important things, one is goods and the other is money.

More money and more bulk goods indicate a more prosperous market; otherwise, it indicates a decline in the market.

Horse hooves trampled the fallen leaves. Li Hong came to the empty trading hall and saw a man wearing a linen cotton jacket and a cotton hat cleaning the fallen leaves. He took a look at the pure black shoes on his feet. They should be a big man in the exchange. Man.

In the past, big men would not do such trivial tasks as cleaning fallen leaves. They would usually hold a pot of hot tea in a warm room, talk to and introduce new customers to the business, which was very arrogant.

Prince Li Hong dismounted, walked through the empty trading hall, went directly to the third floor, and pushed open the room of the big shopkeeper Zeng Fu.

"Everyone is here."

Li Hong said hello, and the gloomy room seemed to gain some popularity.

Zeng Fu was the first to stand up and said in surprise: "His Royal Highness!"

Li Hong raised his hand to stop everyone from greeting him, took off his gloves and threw them on Zeng Fu's desk, pretending to be nonchalant and said: "It's just two million yuan, the court can still get this amount of money."

The shopkeeper, who originally had a light of hope in everyone's eyes when he saw the prince's arrival, heard the prince's two million words, and the light in his eyes disappeared in an instant.

Li Hong put his cold hands on the simple stove to bake them and said, "Why, you're not happy. I brought you good news."

Zeng Fu forced out a smile and said: "That's fine, it's better than nothing."

Li Hong frowned and said, "Why, two million is not enough?"

Zeng Fu said expressionlessly: "If it was the first day that Yong Wangxian took away the funds in the capital pool, two million dollars would be enough. We wouldn't even need that much money. One million dollars would be enough.

Now, no, two million dollars can only last for two months. If it doesn't even last two months, it will be cashed out by the merchants. "

Li Hong said gloomily: "Why?"

Zeng Fu sighed and said: "Because the two million yuan is just a deposit, which is only 20% of the value of the goods. Some caravans with high credibility even only need to pay 10% when they get the goods.

Now, the merchants are asking us to pay the full amount, so two million dollars is not enough. It's far from enough. If you add in the value of the other brands, His Highness would need to give me 20 million yuan. "

Li Hong was stunned for a moment and said: "No one in the world can come up with 20 million yuan."

Zeng Fu spread his hands and said: "This is what we, the people, are watching helplessly as the prince sells the anti-virus formula, sells the secret recipe for quilts, sells the canteen, sells the village outside the city, sells the fiefdom given by His Majesty... The reason why the jewelry on Madam’s head changed from gold and jade to copper, and then from copper to jingchai…”

As Zeng Fu spoke, tears flowed down from his eyes, and then he beat his chest and said: "No matter how much money you throw in, it will be a bottomless pit. No matter what kind of good property Yun throws in, there will be no sound." I can’t even hear it…”

"That's it. Madam also said that we still have food to eat at home, which is much better than those unlucky merchants who have no food and clothing."

"Your Highness, please advise Madam and the eldest son. All the income from Liushui brand is given to Guochao. Liushui brand belongs to Guochao, not the Yun family. The Yun family has no need and no reason to throw their own property into it. This is A bottomless pit..."

As Zeng Fu cried, the shopkeepers' tears rolled down their beards of different lengths. Li Hong's heart felt cold at this moment.

At this moment, a young man wearing a cotton hat came in, looked at Zeng Fu with a smile and said: "Big shopkeeper, I have sent you money."

When he looked up and saw that Li Hong was there, he rushed forward, hugged Li Hong's arm and said, "Senior Brother, you are here too."

Li Hong looked at Wen Huan who was sitting on him and said, "What kind of money are you here to give? Why do you want to give money?"

Wen Huan said with a smile: "My mother-in-law went through a lot of work at home, just shoveling the land, and got out 80,000 yuan. Although it is a little less, she can still deal with some merchants."

Li Hong looked up at the sky, his nose was sore. He could see clearly that Wen Huan, a noble man who used to be very particular about his clothes, was now wearing cotton clothes and a pair of bloated donkey-like boots on his feet. Wowo cotton shoes, he still has the appearance of a noble boy, and some people believe that he is a farm boy.

"It's not that..." Li Hong said with difficulty.

Wen Huan shook his head and said: "My mother-in-law said that she didn't want to see Chang'an decline like this. My mother-in-law also said that your Majesty moved the capital to Luoyang instead of Chang'an. We are the natives of Chang'an and we must keep Chang'an."

The veins on Li Hong's forehead jumped. He inserted Wen Huan's ribs and placed him on the table. He roared: "Li Xian, I'm going to skin you right now -"

After watching the furious Li Hong quickly leave the exchange, Zeng Fu picked up his teapot again, took a sip of warm tea, and raised his thumb at Wen Huan.

Wen Huan said with a smile: "Master said that senior brother has been living too smoothly these past years, and he should suffer a little."

Zeng Fu nodded on Wen Huan's forehead and said: "That's your senior brother. To us, he is an unattainable figure. Although you are acting, you can't lose 80,000 yuan. You can still throw it into this bottomless pit without being heard." sound."

Wen Huan grinned and said: "Throw it away! If you don't throw away all the money at home, how can you show that I am more capable of making money than I, Aye?"

Zeng Fu sighed and said, "It's best not for your Aye to hear these words. He's not very broad-minded. Be careful that he tricks you and makes you miserable."

Wen Huan laughed and said: "Today it was me who brought 80,000 guan of money to show off, and tomorrow it will be Guang Si's turn to pull their 40,000 to 50,000 guan of money to fill the big hole of Liushui Brand.

To be honest, being poor is actually quite fun. When I go out now, the dogs start to chase me away. "

The second shopkeeper Huo Cheng said: "Okay, I wish you will be poor for generations to come."

Wen Huan squinted at Huo Cheng and said, "I heard you talking for so long outside the door just now, and I realized that you only talked about income, but you didn't mention a word about the huge income in half a year. "

Okay, I’ve eaten my fat, drank some wine, and updated my novel. It’s time to go out for a walk. I walked 400 steps all day today. Can you believe it?