Chapter 289 It’s time for dinner again, brothers (asking for monthly tickets)

Since Li Xiang left Chang'an, the work of Jingzhao Prefecture has always been led by Quan Wanji, with the cooperation of Lu Zhaolin and Luo Binwang.

Matters other than government affairs were generally left to Princess Gaoyang.

In fact, Li Shu also mentioned that the affairs of the Chamber of Commerce should be handed over to Pei Xueqing, but Pei Xueqing is pregnant now, and Li Xiang has always been a person who does not bother two people with one matter, so Li Shu was allowed to continue to be in charge.

Although it was said that Li Su was in charge, in fact it was Li Lizhi, Li Mingda, Li Weirui and herself, Li Shu, who were in charge.

Li Shimin's partiality can be seen from the naming rules.

All of Empress Changsun's legitimate daughters had double names, such as Princess Changle Li Lizhi, Princess Jinyang Li Mingda, Princess Chengyang Li Weirui, and Princess Hengshan Li Hengwu.

Of course, the "Mingda" in Li Mingda is her courtesy name, but Li Mingda likes this courtesy name very much, so she has always been known by her courtesy name, just like the habits of Su Dingfang and Xue Rengui.

However, the daughters who were not born to Empress Changsun, such as Princess Qinghe Li Jing, Princess Lanling Li Shu, and Princess Gaoyang Li Su, all had single characters.

Among these princesses, there are also some who are close to them and some who are distant. For example, the relationship between Li Su and Li Shu is average, and he does not get along well with Princess Baling.

But Li Lizhi and Li Mingda are different. The two of them... Anyway, Li Xiang has been in the Tang Dynasty for so long, and he has never heard of anyone who dares to go against them.

That's true. After all, Li Lizhi was Li Shimin's favorite, and Li Mingda was the favorite of the whole family. Who would think that they were twisted and would be so hard on them...

Today, the business alliance led by Dengzhou is managed by Li Lizhi, Li Mingda and Li Su.

What triangle...

Li Xiang was not a suspicious person, so he had no worries about handing things over to his three aunts.

Having said that, even the most suspicious person, such as Cao Cao, would not think that this lineup would create any disadvantageous situation for him.

Think about it, Li Mingda is a "monk" and his home is in the palace, so he stands with Li Xiang first; while Li Lizhi has the support of the Changsun family, and will not merge with Li Shu who has the support of the Fang family. In this way, a stable balance is achieved.

As the saying goes, a triangle is the most stable structure, and it is actually quite appropriate to put it here.

There is a saying that goes "A daughter who is married off is like spilled water", but actually that is not entirely true. This kind of thing usually happens when the two families are well matched.

This is even more true if a woman marries into a wealthy family. Generally speaking, a married woman will feel that she is naturally inferior to others, so she will be very cautious and tread on thin ice, fearing that she will be disliked by her husband's family because of doing something wrong, so she will try her best to please her husband's family.

However, if a girl from a high-class family marries someone else, the situation is different. In this case, the girl will generally consider herself a native of the same family and rarely think that she will become a member of the other family's family after marrying.

This is the same for royal princesses, just like Liu Che's sister Princess Pingyang. Even after she married into the Pingyang Marquis's Mansion, what she was thinking about in her heart was the Han Dynasty, not her own little piece of land, the Pingyang Marquis's Mansion.

Li Lizhi's situation was slightly better, after all, she was gentle and non-aggressive; but Li Su's personality... anyway, she always felt that she was a member of the Li family.

This is also the reason why she has been actively participating in the tasks assigned to her by Li Xiang. Not only does she like this false reputation, but also because she subconsciously feels that she is a member of the Li family and should shoulder the responsibility of helping her nephew.

After Li Xiang left Chang'an, Li Su discussed with Li Lizhi and decided to change the meeting place to Wude Hall.

One reason was that Pei Xueqing was not feeling well, and the other reason was also because of Li Mingda’s consideration.

Pei Xueqing naturally would not refuse the kindness of his aunts, so he cleaned up a room in the side hall of the Wude Hall and used it as a meeting room for several people.

It is called a meeting room, but in fact it is just a small tea party for a few women to chat about family matters when they have nothing to do.

Occasionally, Su Yi would come over and sit for a while. After all, Pei Xueqing was her daughter-in-law, so she would always come and ask about her well-being.

Logically speaking, as a daughter-in-law, Pei Xueqing should visit her son Li Xiang every morning and evening when he is not around.

The so-called morning and evening visit means greeting your parents every morning and evening to express your filial piety and respect.

This concept emphasizes children's respect and care for their parents, and embodies the filial piety in traditional family ethics.

But Old Li felt that it was not a good idea for his granddaughter-in-law to run around every day with a big belly, so he issued an imperial decree to exempt her from the morning and evening visits to Lizheng Hall and the East Palace every day, which could be considered as a way to reduce the burden.

"Sizi's piano skills are getting better and better."

Li Shu held the teacup with a smile and praised Li Mingda's piano skills.

Ever since Li Xiang asked someone to build a piano for her, Li Mingda, who loves music, felt like she had found a treasure. Except for meal times, she would sit in front of the piano to practice every day.

The ones who suffered the most were the maids in Daji Palace, who had been baptized by the devilish sounds for nearly half a month. Fortunately, Li Mingda was very talented and quickly mastered the skills of the piano.

Then the one who was tortured became Li Shimin.

What else can Lao Li say? It’s his own little cotton-padded jacket, what else can he do?

However, after listening for a few days, Li Shimin suddenly discovered that Li Mingda's piano playing was getting better and better, and he felt even more relaxed and flexible in handling government affairs while listening to the melodious piano music.

This is also a good thing.

Hearing Li Shu's praise, Li Mingda smiled gently, touched the piano that belonged to Pei Xueqing with some melancholy, and turned around and said, "In terms of piano skills, I, as an aunt, am much worse than our niece-in-law."

Before Pei Xueqing could be modest, Li Su quickly said, "Well, I think so too. I have heard Xueqing's piano playing, but it is much better than Sizi's—"

Li Mingda was not angry. He walked to Pei Xueqing, hugged her arm and said with a smile: "Yes, I admit this~"

While talking, Li Mingda was close to Pei Xueqing.

Li Xiang has been away recently, and Li Mingda and Pei Xueqing have been getting closer. When they have nothing to do, they chat together, and their relationship is becoming closer and closer.

As they were talking, a maid came in to say that a letter had been delivered.

"Is it a letter from Xiang'er?" the three princesses asked together.

"Yes." Pei Xueqing picked up the letter and opened it gently.

"Look at what's written on it—" Li Mingda came over and put it on to take a look.

Pei Xueqing hummed and began to read the letter.

"Sister, how are you..." The letter didn't contain any meaningful words. It was just about expressing longing and mentioning some things at home.

Hearing the end, Li Shu snorted, "I thought this heartless Xiang'er would think about us three sisters. The three of us worked hard for him in Chang'an, but he didn't mention us at all in his letter. It really makes me sad!"

"This is a letter from Xiang'er to Xueqing. Why does he mention you?" Li Mingda said with a smile on his face.

"Oh, you do have a separate letter." Li Su said persistently, "But I don't..."

Before he could finish his words, he heard someone outside shouting to deliver the letter.

When the maid brought the letter to him, Li Mingda took it, read it, and then handed it to Li Shu.

"Yes, it's for you."

"For me?" Li Shu was stunned for a moment. She was just joking and didn't expect Li Xiang to write a letter to her.

In fact, since Li Xiang left home, he has hardly written any letters to her. He basically just mentioned her in the letters to Pei Xueqing.

"Yes." Li Mingda said with a smile.

"The sun is rising from the west." Li Shu also found it somewhat strange. She took the letter and opened it impatiently, wanting to see what the heartless Li Xiaoxiang had written to her.

The more Li Shu read the letter, the gloomier his face became. In the end, his face was as gloomy as if it was about to rain heavily.

"What's wrong? Why do you look like this?" Li Lizhi asked with concern.

Li Su pounded the table with her fist in anger: "This Li Xiaoxiang! He hasn't written to me for four or five months, and when he does, it's to ask for money! Does he think I'm a coin casting furnace?"

"Those who are capable should do more work." Li Mingda covered his lips and chuckled.

She thought about it, put herself in his shoes and changed her position. She really wanted to break through her defense.

This Li Xiaoxiang is so heartless!
Li Shu puffed his lips, still feeling indignant.

"Look at him, he asked for five million strings of cash right away! Five million strings of cash! He said it so lightly. There are only a little over ten million strings of cash in the account right now, but he asked for nearly half of it right away!"

"Youzhou is in urgent need of reform, and Xiang'er also needs financial support." Li Mingda rubbed his eyes and sighed, "I still have more than two million strings of cash in my private collection, so why not give it to Xiang'er? Anyway, there is no use for me to keep this money."

"What about those you did before?" Li Shu raised his head and asked suspiciously.

As the housekeeper of the Li family, Li Shu certainly knew Li Mingda's wealth. After all, she was the one who was in charge of the dividend distribution.

Now Li Mingda said that she only had more than two million strings of cash, so of course she was surprised.

"It's still Aye." Li Mingda felt a little speechless when he said this: "Last time when I married Lian Qiao to Xiang'er, I gave him 6 million strings of cash. I originally asked Aye to help me deliver it, but I never expected that Aye, as the king of a country, would actually covet these 6 million strings of cash. It's really..."

I thought for a long time but couldn't come up with a suitable adjective.

Li Shimin, who was far away in Liangyi Hall holding a small meeting with Fang Xuanling and others, sneezed twice in succession and rapidly.

"Your Majesty, the weather has turned cooler recently, so please take care of your health," Fang Xuanling said with concern.

"It's okay." Li Shimin rubbed his nose and felt strange.

Of course he could not have imagined that his little cotton-padded jacket would suddenly leak air...

"Aye is actually this kind of person?"

This time not only Li Su, but even Li Lizhi was surprised.

However, Li Lizhi quickly came to her senses and remembered her mother, Empress Changsun.

Thinking back to when she was in the Prince of Qin's Mansion, her mother said she would save the gifts given to her by her grandfather, uncle and others during the holidays, but in the end, they were all gone.

There are similarities between husband and wife. Li Lizhi thought that it was possible that her father-in-law was infected by her mother-in-law.

"I will also collect one million dan of grain for Xiang'er." Li Lizhi said softly, "Xiang'er has written to ask for help. I think he is really in trouble. How can I, as his aunt, just stand by and watch?"

"No, it's better not to move this part of the grain." Li Shu pinched his temple and sighed, "I know you are worried about Xiang'er, but Chang'an is short of food every summer and autumn. These grains should be kept in the warehouse for emergency use."

"Don't you still have more than one million stones in Luoyang?" Li Lizhi asked in confusion.

"That's still not enough." Li Shu shook his head and said, "There are more than a million people in the capital area, and only this much food..."

She didn't say the rest, but even if you understood, you understood.

It was not new that Chang'an City was short of food. Ever since Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, Yang Jian, set the capital in Daxing, the emperors of the Sui and Tang dynasties began a long journey to "go to Luoyang for food".

In the fourth year of Kaihuang, famine broke out in Guannei, and Emperor Wen of Sui, Yang Jian, had to flee to Luoyang with the court to avoid famine. This is the legendary "going to Luoyang for food".

After the Tang Dynasty, with the development of society, the population within the Great Wall increased dramatically, and as a result, the pressure within the Great Wall increased unprecedentedly.

Population explosion brought more frequent famines. During the Zhenguan period, when famine occurred, the people were encouraged to go to other places for food. However, since the bureaucracy was not very complex at that time and the population density in the capital was not too high, it was not so urgent to move the capital for food. The three times of going to the Eastern Capital were not for food, but to go out and relax, or to conquer Goguryeo. However, these temporary moves of the capital obviously shared a considerable part of the economic pressure in Guanzhong.

During the reign of Li Zhi, he went to Luoyang for food seven times. From the first time he went to the Eastern Capital in the second year of Xianqing to his death in Luoyang in the first year of Hongdao, the Tang Dynasty stayed in Luoyang for half of the 26 and a half years. During the reign of Li Longji, he also went to Luoyang for food five times.

To sum it up in one sentence - it’s time for dinner again brothers!

When the capital was moved to find food, once the emperor and his ministers left the capital and arrived in the Eastern Capital, the corresponding political center was also transferred from Chang'an to Luoyang. Luoyang became the actual capital from a secondary capital, and Chang'an became the secondary capital. When the emperor and his entourage survived the difficulties in the Eastern Capital and the economy in Guanzhong improved, they returned to Chang'an. At this time, Chang'an was restored to be the capital, and Luoyang was restored to be the secondary capital. This is the "main and auxiliary swing" between Chang'an and Luoyang caused by the relocation of the capital to find food in the Tang Dynasty.

In order to facilitate food on the way, sixteen palaces and twenty-one post stations were set up on the Qiao-Han Ancient Road during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. This was also the largest post road in the Tang Dynasty.

Among them, five palaces, namely Xuanyou Palace, Shangyang Palace, Shancheng Palace, Fuchang Palace and Xianren Palace, were built in the Sui Dynasty, and the remaining eleven were built in the Tang Dynasty, with the most built during the reign of Li Zhi.

After all, he is the emperor, so he has to be decent when begging in Luoyang.

"It's just that the grain output in the Guannei area is not enough to supply the entire Chang'an City." Li Shu said again: "It's thanks to Dengzhou that the past two years have not been like usual."

(Monthly ticket at the hour)
(End of this chapter)