In a small courtyard in the state office, there were four guards standing at the gate of the courtyard, their expressions were solemn, their eyes were full of sadness, and Meng Xiao stepped forward and whispered a few words, and the guards glanced at Yue Jing, but they still dodged away.

"Yue joins the army, please come with me!"

Meng Xiao took Yue Jing into the courtyard, and when he came to the ward, he happened to meet an old doctor coming out, Meng Xiao hurriedly asked, "Doctor Wang, how did you summon the king?" ”

The old doctor shook his head, "I guess I won't survive tonight." ”

After speaking, he sighed again and again and left, Meng Xiao walked into the room, the two maids hurriedly got out of the way, Yue Jing saw King Zhao lying on the bed at a glance, his whole body was swollen, his calves and face were swollen into transparent color, he looked particularly thrilling, he had fallen into a severe coma.

"Do you want to see it again?" Meng Xiao asked.

Yue Jing shook his head, there was really no need to look any further, he withdrew from the courtyard, and Meng Xiao asked again, "Does Yue join the army and want to go back?" ”

Yue Jing sighed and said, "I'll wait for two more days!" I live in a nearby inn, if there is any news, please send someone to inform me. ”

Of course, Meng Xiao understood what the other party meant, the other party wanted to get the clear news of the death of King Zhao, which was naturally Chang'an's request, and Chang'an would not accept the illness that could not be improved.

Meng Xiao nodded, "I estimate that Yue will be able to get the news when he joins the army early tomorrow morning." ”

.........

At the third watch of the same night, Zhao Wang Li Xi died of illness in Hangzhou Prefecture at the age of 60, and as soon as the day dawned, Yue Jing sent the news of Zhao Wang's death to Chang'an with a pigeon letter in Yuhang County.

In Chang'an Anshan Fang, there is a private house covering an area of about ten acres near the square gate, although the plaque is the black on a white background of an ordinary house, not the silver on a red background or a gold on a red background of the official courtyard or the official house, but everyone can still see that the owner of this house is unusual.

Although Guo Song treated merchants more leniently, lowered commercial taxes, abolished many unreasonable restrictions on merchants, such as clothing colors, merchants must be allowed to ride horses, and merchants were allowed to have children in the army and participate in imperial examinations.

In fact, not only businessmen, Guo Song canceled the lowly and slave status, and the previous unfair identity signs such as music, slavery, prostitution, artisan, and merchant status were canceled, and they were all converted to civilians, and only the criminal and military registrations were retained, one was derogatory, and the other was preferential status, of course, the crime registration only involved the criminal himself, not the children's spouse, and once the sentence was over, it would be restored to the civil nationality.

The military status is different, it is a kind of preferential treatment, the military status can be reduced by half to pay taxes, if it is discharged due to injury, the tax can be halved for life, if they die on the battlefield, then their parents can get a monthly subsidy of five buckets of rice and a bucket of salt, and they can also get a coffin of government subsidies when they die, and the children of the dead can also enjoy half of the tax for life.

So since the introduction of the national policy of ordinary nationality, businessmen are also ordinary people, and there is no difference between them and ordinary people?

But most of the businessmen are rich, of course they want to live comfortably if they are rich, but there are restrictions on luxury, mainly involving food, clothing, housing and transportation, the clothes are mainly Guo Song advocated frugality, strictly forbidden to wear mopping long skirts, and it is strictly forbidden to use gorgeous Shu brocade to make clothes, not only for businessmen, everyone is the same, even the princess never wears a long skirt that drags the floor, and the food is also to encourage frugality, oppose extravagance and waste, and prohibit the consumption of rare and exotic food.

The restrictions on status mainly involve travel, residence and concubinage, and it should not be said that marrying a concubine is impossible without a certain status.

The second is the carriage, there is no official position or title, it is not allowed to take a carriage, only a donkey cart or an ox cart, the same is true for a boat, there is no official position and title, you can't have a private boat, you can either go to a shipping boat, or you can rent a boat, of course, cargo ships, merchant ships, fishing boats are not within the scope of restrictions, mainly refers to boats.

Then there is the residence, the most strict residence, the hierarchy is clear, the maximum area of the general house shall not exceed five acres, but this regulation is not applicable in all places, at present it mainly involves the five major prefectures, Jingzhao Mansion, Zhangye Mansion, Taiyuan Mansion, Youzhou Mansion and Chengdu Mansion, and there may be Luoyang and Yangzhou in the future.

And even if you have an official position and title, there are also rules on the rank, for example, if you are a six-rank official, you can only live in a three-acre official courtyard in the capital, and a third-rank official or a county duke or above can live in a ten-acre mansion, and when you reach the prime minister's level or the national dukeship, you can live in a mansion of more than twenty acres.

The general official position refers to the civil official, while the military general looks at the title, and the businessmen who have made great contributions also look at the title, such as Zhang Lei, Li An, and Shi Donglai, all of whom have the title of county duke, except for Guo Ping, who is Mrs. Yipin.

Therefore, the ten-acre house of Anshanfang is very unusual, and everyone guesses that the owner has at least the title of county duke.

This mansion is the mansion of the great businessman Liu Shangdong, in order to let the Liu family, who has hundreds of sea ships, come to Chang'an, Guo Song offered a lucrative price, named Liu Shangdong as the prince of Jiangyang County, allowed them to buy a garden house, allowed their mansion to ride in a two-horse carriage, and allowed them to have a private thousand stone boats.

Among them, the garden house can only be lived in by the royal family, relatives and princes, and even Zhang Lei does not have a garden house, Guo Song actually allowed the Liu family to buy a garden house, which shows that the court attaches great importance to the Liu family.

However, Liu Shangdong's father, Liu Xun, knows that people are very skilled, and he understands the truth that wealth is not arrogant, and if their family buys a garden house, it will be a disaster in the future.

So after moving to Chang'an, Liu Xun refused the request of his descendants, gave up the qualification to buy a garden house, and only bought a ten-acre official mansion and changed it into a private house, but there was a stone tablet erected in front of his house, which was engraved 'Jiangyang County Mansion', indicating the identity of the owner of the mansion, and the family was a county prince and was qualified to live in a ten-acre house.

Early in the morning, Liu's mansion began to put up lanterns, but the time was still a bit rushed, and only a few red lanterns could be hung in front of the gate.

Liu Fu has just received news that the King of Jin will visit the Liu family in the future, which is a big event, although the King of Jin often goes to Zhang Lei and Li An in a private capacity, but it is the first time to visit a merchant as the King of Jin.

In the morning, a cavalry team escorted two wide carriages into Anshanfang, standing at the door to watch the wind of the housekeeper galloped back, the old master Liu Xun personally went to the gate to welcome the arrival of the King of Jin, followed by Liu Shangdong and his brothers and nephews dozens of people.

After a while, two generous carriages slowly stopped in front of the palace gate, the guards opened the door, the king of Jin Guo Song got down from the first carriage, and the other carriage came down from Dugu Qiu, who accompanied the king of Jin to visit the Guo family.

Liu Xun hurriedly stepped forward and bowed, "His Royal Highness the Prince Regent is coming to order the Liu family, making the contemptible mansion shine, and the small people Liu Xun is full of doors on behalf of the Liu Mansion, and warmly welcomes His Royal Highness's arrival!" ”

Dugu Qiu hurriedly introduced: "This is the old head of the Liu family, and Emperor Daizong once named him the county viscount. ”

Guo Song nodded with a smile and said, "I've wanted to visit your mansion for a long time, but I haven't been able to arrange time, I hope I didn't disturb your mansion." ”

"Where! Where! It is an honor for our family to come to Liu's Mansion for His Royal Highness. ”

Liu Xun introduced the current head of the family to Guo Song, Liu Shangdong, and everyone surrounded King Jin and Dugu Xiangguo and walked towards the mansion.

The Liu family opened the main hall today, Guo Song walked up to the main hall and sat down, the master Liu Xun sat aside, and the two sides were Duqiu and Liu Shangdong, and several maids came in to serve tea.

Guo Song smiled and asked, "Can the old master live in Chang'an?" ”

"Not bad!"

Liu Xun said with a smile: "Chang'an is not as dry and humid as I imagined, and it is still very comfortable to live here." ”

"Compared to Yangzhou, the winter in Chang'an may be a little colder."

"I think it's similar to Yangzhou, I lived in Fengzhou for a winter when I was young, and the cold of the winter there is unacceptable, but Chang'an is much better, there is no severe cold, and after heavy snowfall, I often go to the garden to walk around and enjoy the snow."

"In fact, it will be more meaningful to enjoy the snow scene over there, why should the Liu family refuse?"

Liu Xun bowed slightly and said, "Thank you for Your Highness's kindness, but the Liu family is indeed not qualified to live in the garden house." ”

Guo Song smiled and waved his hand and said: "The garden house is also a sub-region, among which the more than a dozen garden houses in the southwest corner of the court are considered to be sold to the people, on the one hand, to improve the finances, on the other hand, it is also to commend some outstanding people in the private sector for their contributions to the court, so the conditions will be slightly reduced, as long as you have the county dukedom, you are eligible to buy, there are currently four people with the county dukedom, and the other three have applied to the court, only the Liu family has not moved, how can the Liu family let go of this good opportunity?" ”

When Liu Xun heard that the other three families had all applied, he was also a little moved, so he asked, "I don't know which official office of the imperial court to apply to?" ”

Du Qiu next to him said with a smile: "The garden house is in charge of the Taifu Temple Commercial Housing Bureau, and the Liu family can apply to them." ”

"Let's discuss this matter with our family."

Guo Song smiled, "Don't worry, you can discuss it slowly." ”