Tibet

Li Ye has been looking at the house these two days. After adding warriors to the house, the guest rooms are a bit insufficient.

He was thinking of buying the house next door. The family in the east occupied two acres and asked for six thousand guan. The price per mu was three thousand. This price was relatively reasonable. After all, Xuanpingfang was not a first-class location.

The first-class lots are several famous squares along Zhuque Street and Chunmingmen Street, while the second-class lots are the squares close to Dongshi West Market and Zhuque Street, and the third-class lots are the squares in the central part of Wannian County.

In addition to the location, land area also has a great impact on land prices. Houses with five acres are very rare, so the price per mu is much more expensive. In the same location, the price per mu is more than five times, sometimes even ten times, more expensive than a house with one mu in the same location.

Of course, there are many factors that affect housing prices, such as the location within the house, whether it faces the river, the condition of the house, Feng Shui, whether anything happened to the original owner's house, etc.

Xuanpingfang, where Li Ye's family is located, belongs to the third-class area. The house on the east side is good in all aspects, the size is suitable, there is plenty of sunshine, and the house is relatively new, so the price of three thousand guan per mu is actually not expensive.

But this time, Pei Sanniang, who had always liked buying a house, firmly opposed her son buying a house on the east side.

The reason for the objection is very simple and reliable. The house they live in now is a clan house, not a private house. It was left to the family by Li Linfu, not to Li Dai personally. It is the house where the clan leader lives. Now Li Dai is the clan leader. In the future, when Li Dai is no longer the clan leader, they will have to move out and hand over the house to the new clan leader.

Therefore, Pei Sanniang believed that buying the house on the east side was to make wedding clothes for others, and she did not want to do such a stupid thing.

"I think you are burning too much money!"

Pei Sanniang scolded her son with her hands on her hips, "Is the house enough for you to consider? There are only three people in our family, and living in ten acres of house is not enough? The warriors live in the east courtyard, and the staff live in the west courtyard. It is just the arrangement. You care what the guests do, what can the guests do? If you want to stay for a few days, you can rent a yard at the inn opposite."

"Mom! The house on the east side happens to be for sale. I think it's good. We can buy it separately. When we need it, we can open it up. When we don't, we can separate it with a wall. It will also be a single-family house. We can sell it in the future."

"You're selling it to a ghost for three thousand guan per mu! Didn't you say that An's family is going to rebel? Once the war breaks out, I don't know how house prices will fall. In the future, you won't be able to sell it for thousands of guan per mu."

His mother's words reminded Li Ye that he had forgotten about An Lushan's rebellion. When An Lushan rebelled, house prices in Chang'an and Luoyang would definitely plummet. This was true.

"Mom, why don't you go to Yizhou and buy a house? Go to Chengdu and buy a five-acre house."

It was okay not to mention buying a house in Chengdu, but when it came to buying a house in other places, Pei Sanniang gritted her teeth with hatred.

"I just listened to your nonsense. I bought a small house with two acres in Hangzhou. Now, not only has the price not increased, but the price has also dropped. I have to spend three guans of money to hire someone to take care of me every month. It's really annoying. I've thought about it for a long time. OK, if there is a war, I will take your father back to Zhangye’s family home.”

His mother's words left Li Ye speechless. That was the advice he gave his mother soon after he came to Datang. But after he reached a high position, his vision broadened and his considerations changed.

Historically, An Lushan never attacked the Yangtze River, but now history has been changed a lot by himself, especially his influence on his grandfather. Li Linfu stopped persecuting the prince in the eighth year of Tianbao, and instead formed a secret alliance with the prince. This year, the emperor Li Longji relaxed his restraint on the prince, forming a tendency to seize the legitimate son, and the seizure of the legitimate son affected An Lushan's rebellion.

Li Ye himself didn't know how An Lushan would rebel and whether it would be different from history. If he made today's decision according to the historical route, it would indeed feel like he was desperate to find a sword.

"All right!"

Li Ye finally surrendered to his mother, "As you said, house prices will plummet, so I won't consider it for now."

Pei Sanniang had no intention of letting him go. She stretched out her hand and said, "Give me the 6,000 yuan you are going to buy a house. Your wedding is overspending. Your grandfather and his whole family are coming. They need food and drink. One inn is not enough. I have to We have two inns, and your father has to invite not only officials from the Ministry of Etiquette, but also officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs, and more banquets. Money is flowing like water these days, and your father’s salary is almost gone. Give me the money quickly. .”

Li Ye had no choice but to take out the counter ticket for 10,000 gold coins from his arms. This time he brought back a total of 100,000 gold coins. Now he only has 60,000 gold coins left in his hand.

Pei Sanniang was elated after taking away 10,000 yuan from her son. At this moment, she suddenly remembered something and said to Li Ye: "Your father is in a bad mood these days, you have to persuade him!"

As night fell, Li Dai went home exhausted. He didn't know how expensive firewood and rice were. After Li Dai took office, he discovered that Yang Guozhong had left a pile of bad debts. He sorted it out and found that the court's deficit had exceeded tens of millions of dollars. There are a lot of bad debts that have not been cleared. If all were cleared, the deficit would be more than 20 million.

Li Dai's mood has been really bad these days, and his face is gloomy every day.

The warrior guarding Li Dai's carriage slowly stopped. Liu Wutong stepped forward to open the door and helped Li Dai get out of the carriage. Coming down from behind was the tea boy Aku. Aku was only seven years old and very smart. His family was also in Xuanping. Fang had many brothers and sisters in his family. His father was a coachman and his family was relatively poor. Fang Zheng introduced him to Li Dai as a tea boy, earning him two quid a month.

The tea boy was responsible for running tea errands, which was very useful. He came here in the morning to follow Li Dai's carriage to the court, came back with the carriage in the afternoon, and then went home.

"Master is back!" Butler Liu greeted with a smile.

Li Dai's face was as dark as water. He entered the inner house and went directly to his study. He sat down and didn't want to move.

At this time, Pei Sanniang came in with a cup of tea, followed by Li Ye. When Pei Sanniang saw her husband closing his eyes and saying nothing, she shook her head and went out.

Li Ye sat aside. After a while, Li Dai sighed and said, "Ye'er, you've made your father miserable this time."

Li Ye smiled and said: "It is not easy to be a minister of household affairs in all dynasties, so why should my father be so decadent?"

"It's not just bad debts, it's just a bunch of bad debts. I finally understand. Yang Guozhong has been making fake accounts to deceive the emperor, including fake income, fake expenses, and fake inventory."

Li Dai sat up suddenly and became excited, "I just know now that the current tax revenue is only half of what Tianbao was in eight years, but the expenditure has doubled. The annual military expenditure eats up all the tax revenue. Other What to do with expenses? We can only sell off the inventory materials. The inventory account record of cloth and silk still has 4.5 million pieces. I went to count it today. In fact, there are only 30,000 pieces. The inventory of other materials is almost empty. I asked the officials below. , they said they sold the salary."

"How much food is left?" Li Ye asked anxiously.

"If we add up the food in all the warehouses, we still have about a little over 300,000 dan."

Li Ye's eyes became serious and he said to his father: "We must transfer food from the Jianghuai River immediately, otherwise there will be a famine this winter and food prices will skyrocket."

Throughout the dynasties, the biggest problem in Guanzhong was food shortage. During the Tianbao period, Guanzhong had a population of three million, but the cultivated land was far from being able to meet the population's food needs, so food had to be imported from outside.

Therefore, during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, there was always a saying that rice in Chang'an was expensive, and it was not easy to live in Chang'an.

Now there are only 300,000 shi of food left, including military rations. How can this be done? If this is not resolved, something big will happen.

"Wei Xiangguo has raised this issue several times, but it just can't be solved."

"Why?"

"Tianbao Canal is blocked, and huge boulders have collapsed in the Sanmen Gorge of Shaanzhou. Ships with more than a thousand stones can't move. It needs to spend a lot of money to clear it. But the court has no money. Everyone has been wrangling for several months, but it can't be solved. It's easy to raise thirty Wan Guan was preparing to dredge the silt, but the money was misappropriated by Yang Guozhong to attack Nanzhao. In the end, we heard that it was a disastrous defeat, but the military reported a great victory."

Li Ye frowned, "Now the Ministry of Revenue can't get out a penny?"

"The Ministry of Household Affairs has more than 100,000 yuan, but there are so many places where the money needs to be spent. It's just a lot of money. You know how Yang Guozhong makes false accounts. For example, Tongguan needs major repairs and it costs 30,000 yuan. The Ministry of Household Affairs will It shows that the above has approved it and the money has been allocated, so even if the Tongguan City Wall has been repaired, in fact, not a penny has been allocated, and Tongguan is still in the same shabby state. It has been basically like this in the past few years. I have been thinking about it these days. I’m sorting out the account books and it’s giving me a headache.”

Li Ye pondered for a moment and said: "After finishing, my father will write a report to Gao Lishi and ask Gao Lishi to submit it directly to the emperor. Don't be afraid of offending Yang Guozhong. If my father doesn't write it, Yang Guozhong will plant these bad debts on his father."

Li Dai sneered, "Yang Guozhong has ordered the revision of the account books and is preparing to shift the responsibility to the former Minister of Accounts, Yang Hao. I am ready to submit a letter directly. Even if I am impeached, I don't care."

"But my father has to do the things right now. There is not enough rain this year, and the autumn grain production will definitely be reduced. If we don't start now, there will definitely be a famine in Guanzhong in the winter, and many people will starve to death."

Li Dai pondered for a moment and said: "Today Wei Xiangguo came to me and said that you still have a batch of supplies that can be cashed in for first aid. You promised to give it to the court, about one million yuan."