Time Travel: I am the idle king Li Shen and Li Shimin in the Tang Dynasty

"Aye. We have to solve the problem of food and clothing first. How can we let the people plant more land?" Li Shen said to Li Shimin

"Not all people are farming now. How can we grow more crops?" Li Shimin was puzzled.

"Aye, only when it is profitable will more people be willing to plant more land. Nowadays, the price of rice is only five cents per dou. It only increased to seven cents after I bought a lot of it. People can only retail an acre of land after deducting exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes. One hundred cents. One hundred acres of land is only enough money. Aye, what can you do with one hundred acres of land? You still have to sell all the rations. If you keep the rations for a year, the remaining food is just enough to feed a family of three. If there is a large population, It’s hard to get enough to eat. I heard from people in Huangzhuang. Some families in nearby villages don’t even have decent clothes. They have to sew and mend a set of clothes. Ayemi is so mean and hurts farmers. Many people don’t want to open up more land. Yeah." Li Shen expressed what he was thinking.

"Don't you know that the price of rice hurts the people? With today's rice prices everyone can buy rice, so why can't they have enough to eat?" Li Shimin didn't believe it. This rice price was specified by him

"Aye, do you know who is buying rice? Farmers who really cultivate the land keep their own grain for export, so how can they buy rice? Could it be that the common people sell the rice at a low price and buy it back at a high price? Buy rice All of them have something to do. A boy has about three hundred cash per month. He can buy sixty buckets of rice. The craftsmen in the workshop also have a few hundred cash. The rest are businessmen, aristocratic families, and nobles. They also care about the price of rice. Five coins or ten coins. In fact, the most important thing is that people cannot exchange rice for what they want. Such as cloth and so on. So we have to raise the price of rice. Let more than [-] kinds of land. The price of rice has gone up. The wages of laborers and craftsmen It will definitely increase. Otherwise, who will work for you? Only when farmers are well fed and clothed can people be willing to have children. Only then can the population grow."

"But even if the price of rice rises, it won't rise too much. What if life is as good as you said?" Li Shimin asked again

"Of course it is the development of commerce. The country will not be stable without farmers, and it will not be rich without business. When commerce develops, some shrewd people will follow them to do small businesses. When these people live a good life, they will naturally have children, or let their children go to school. When a businessman needs to open a workshop, he must hire people. In addition to farming, the people have another source of income. A worker who works in a workshop can earn enough for a year to eat, drink and clothe his family. Then the land they farm is It’s not about having extra money. If you have extra money, you will let your children study. In the hearts of the people, only by studying can you make a career. As long as we have good conditions, we will run schools wherever they are. In ten or twenty years, when they grow up, they will What a large group of scholars. And our fees should be low. It only needs to cover the daily expenses of the college and the salary of the professor. In this way, the people will not have too much pressure. If it is not enough for the court to help, it will be enough."

Li Shen racked his brains to say these words. Or they were all influenced by later generations. Li Shen also wondered how those people who time-traveled in novels immediately became intelligent as soon as they time-traveled, and had all kinds of conspiracies. Current affairs and politics are all here.

"What you said does make sense, but it is not easy to implement. No one in the court will agree to raising the price of rice. As you said, their family has a large population. If the price of rice is raised, they will have to spend twice as much. The price. Alas..." Li Shimin sighed.

"Aye, don't be impatient. Just take your time. The aristocratic family cannot be eradicated overnight. Besides, they will agree. They own a lot of land and the price of rice will increase and they will earn more. They hoard a lot of food every year. Here." Li Shen comforted

"Li Shen. You know the government so well. Why don't you go to the court and participate in politics in the future. Although you are young, you are a prince and you will be nine years old after the New Year. A prince can go to the court."

"No, Aye, please don't. I'm all talking nonsense. That's not my ambition." Li Shen refused. He had to go to court at five or six in the morning, and he didn't want to get up that early. How nice to live an idle life.

"Then what is your ambition?" Li Shimin asked curiously

"My ambition is to sleep until I wake up naturally. Count money until my hands cramp."

"You bastard, you have no ambition." Li Shimin was so angry that he wanted to hit someone after hearing what Li Shen said.

"Aye, I really don't want to participate in government affairs. It's too tiring. It's good to have a big brother in the court. You said that if I do well, I will put pressure on the big brother. If I don't do well, I will feel pressure. What are you doing? It's better to be a good idler Prince. Live happily. While making money, you can also provide more tax revenue to the court. Why not do it."

Li Shen's idea is that simple. He is not an official. If you don't get it right, the loss outweighs the gain and loss.

"Okay. You're still a few years younger, so let's talk." Li Shimin was helpless.

After celebrating the New Year in this way, everyone went back to their respective homes to find their respective mothers.

-------------------------------------

Winter turned to spring, and Li Shen's life returned to its former peace. Li Shen cherished the opportunity to leave the palace twice a month and could not compete with Li Shimin.

Li Shen's current business only makes money from drinks. Because of the relationship between the Cui family. Ordinary drinks are falling again and again. Now it has reached the same amount of money. Because of this, the demand has increased. Merchants from all over the country went to Chang'an to sell goods and would buy a batch of wine to take back with them when they returned. It brings Li Shen more than 2 yuan in profit every month.

Secondly, Li Shen's coal mining industry has been digging. But basically no sales. So piles of mountains are not enough to describe it. It's everywhere at the foot of the mountain. Many mining workers don't understand why their employers let them dig so much useless coal. Moreover, Li Shen asked Wang Hongfu to continue buying mountains or land containing coal. Buy all the mountains or land with limestone clay. Anyway, these mountainous areas cannot grow food at a cheap price.

In particular, the land near the Nanshan Coal Mine was wasteland and the area was quite large. Li Shen asked Wang Hongfu to find Chang'an County to buy it all. As well as the fertile land around Huangzhuang, anyone who is willing to sell it can be bought. And buy it at a high price. There are [-] households in Huangzhuang, and each household has [-] acres, which means [-] acres. Wang Hongfu has bought [-] acres of land. Most of them belong to the imperial court. It has been divided according to the population of each household.

In this way, Li Shen spent five months peacefully. For five months, the court still followed the historical trajectory. Li Tai was still active in the court in order to fight for the throne. And Li Shen succeeded in driving down the price of grain to ten cents a dou.

Li Shen's idea was to make it the same as in later generations. Two cents per catty was only 22 cents per dou. However, this cannot be accomplished in the short term. What broke Li Shen's tranquility was the marriage of Princess Nanping. Li Shimin married Princess Nanping to Wang Jingzhi, the son of Wang Gui, the Minister of Rites. Li Shen looked down upon Wang Gui very much.

In history, Wang Gui always talked about etiquette. In fact, he has selfish motives, and his etiquette is only beneficial to himself. He never said anything that was beneficial to the people. Li Shen felt that Wang Gui was just trying to gain fame and was not trying to persuade Li Shimin to let his rebellious wife go. It is suggested that the courtiers should not kneel down when meeting the prince and say that it is not in line with etiquette.

Many people spoke well of him. But these people are all officials. In order to seek benefits for himself and the officials, he was well received in the official circles. But it made no contribution to the common people. Many people even compared him to Wei Zheng and Fang Xuanling. Li Shen thought it was nonsense. He dared to reveal the forbidden secret words, that is, the secret things Li Shimin told the people around him, which can tell the character of this person. If Wei Zheng and others hadn't tried their best to help him develop. He is still being released as an official.