In the spring of March, the grass grows and the warbler flies, and the warm sun shines on the earth, but in the sky above Pengcheng, there are layers of invisible clouds.

At this time, there was also a tense atmosphere in the Yanwang Mansion, Yang Biao, Zhang Zhao, Chen Qun, Dong Zhao, Gu Yong, Wang Lang, Bing Yuan, Hua Xin and others all arrived in the meeting hall of the Yanwang Mansion one after another, quietly waiting for Zhang Yan's arrival.

Everyone is an important person in the court, as soon as King Yan returned to Pengcheng, he immediately summoned them, which made their hearts a little frightened, I don't know what King Yan summoned so urgently, what is going on, I can't help but talk about it one after another.

However, no one has said why.

After a while, Zhang Yan walked out of the back hall, and the originally noisy meeting hall suddenly became quiet.

Zhang Yan sat at the top of the seat, looked around at the officials present, and immediately said: "I am in such a hurry to summon everyone here today, there are a few important things I want to discuss with you, and I hope that everyone can actively contribute ideas and suggestions, know everything, and say everything." ”

After a pause, Zhang Yan glanced at Chen Qun and said, "Da Si Nong, you can outline our current situation!" ”

"Whoa!"

Chen Qun stood up, first bowed to Zhang Yan, and then bowed his hand to everyone present, and then spoke, using the most concise words, to summarize the current situation, that is, the treasury is empty, and it has reached the point where it cannot make ends meet.

After hearing this, the ministers were all stunned. Because with the continuous expansion of Shili's territory, Zhang Yan's personal prestige has also reached the top, occupying such a vast land. How could there be no money?

But the head of Chen Qun's outline is Tao. In recent years, there have been three places that have spent the most money. The first is military spending, the second is construction spending, and the third is the expenditure of officials at all levels.

Among all the expenditures, the first place is actually the construction cost, the military expenditure, and the income of officials, which together are less than one-tenth of the construction cost.

Because every time Zhang Yan occupies a place, he is not left with devastation. It's a mess, and the people are displaced and homeless.

Therefore, Zhang Yan had to rebuild, and in the past year alone, there were 116 counties that had been approved by Zhang Yan to build new county seats, and according to the actual situation of each county, the construction cost of Zhang Yan's instructions was also different, but no matter what, the money was still spent from the state treasury.

On the other hand. There are too many tax-free areas, and only Xuzhou and some counties of Yanzhou and Qingzhou really collect taxes. These taxes are not at all proportional to the expenditure of the entire state treasury, and all the money accumulated in the past few years has been exhausted in a year, and the state treasury is still negative, and the construction funds of dozens of counties have also been cut off, and they are temporarily in a state of suspension.

For this reason, Chen Qun went to Hebei to severely punish a group of rich gentry who violated the law and discipline, confiscated some rich gentry's family property, and filled it all into the state treasury. But the money obtained from these raids was not enough to fill the loopholes, so Chen Qun raised funds in various parts of Hebei, but with little success, even his original intention of building a canal in Hebei to irrigate farmland had to be abandoned, and Zuihou returned to Pengcheng in disgrace.

In short, this time Zhang Yan gathered many important ministers of the DPRK and China to discuss here, all for just one thing, that is, to see who has a way to make money.

However, everyone sat there for a long time, although they also put forward some opinions, but in the end they were vetoed by Zhang Yan, and a group of people sat there with sad faces, and they couldn't think of any countermeasures.

At this time, Zhang Zhao said to Zhang Yan: "His Royal Highness King Yan, Xuzhou Mu Mizhu has been in business for generations, has a huge family capital, and is an expert in making money, why didn't King Yan summon him to Pengcheng to ask about countermeasures, perhaps, Mi Zhu can give His Royal Highness King Yan a solution!" ”

Wake up from the dream, Zhang Yan suddenly realized that this group of high-ranking and powerful ministers are all from Confucianism, and they have the ability to deal with political affairs, but when it comes to how to make money, asking them is tantamount to asking in vain.

So, Zhang Yan announced the adjournment of the meeting, and asked the ministers to go back first, so that they could think of countermeasures, and three days later, he summoned everyone again.

And Zhang Yan was wearing a strong suit, took out the white dragon horse from the stable, stepped on the horse, rode the white dragon horse out of Pengcheng, and galloped towards Tancheng.

Pengcheng is only a hundred miles away from Tancheng, and the white dragon horse is a sweaty BMW that travels thousands of miles a day, and Zhang Yan soon arrived in Tancheng.

Tancheng is the state city of Xuzhou, before Pengcheng has not risen, Tancheng is the largest city in Xuzhou, the city is full of shops, developed commerce, is the largest commercial base in Xuzhou, but with the status of Pengcheng gradually revealed, Tancheng is no longer prominent, but still as an important commercial base in the area of Panpengcheng, and Xuzhou Mu Mizhu is a businessman, in the management of business can stand in the perspective of businessmen, so many merchants still like to come to Tancheng to trade, the business atmosphere has not decreased, Instead, it has decreased a lot.

If Pengcheng is the largest city in Xuzhou integrating politics, military and economy, then Tancheng is a purely economic-based commercial city, and the prosperity of the city far exceeds that of Pengcheng.

Zhang Yan rode his horse and galloped wildly, and after arriving in Tancheng, he slowed down his pace, and before entering Tancheng, he could perceive the commercial atmosphere of the city along the way, with merchants gathering along the way, and caravans transporting goods in an endless stream.

The official road leading to Tancheng has already been renovated with cement, flat, neat and wide, and it also leaves a very good impression on people who come to the city.

Zhang Yan mixed in the ranks of merchants gathered, came to Tancheng City, the city in front of him gave him a refreshing feeling, he has not come to Tancheng for about three years, in three years, Tancheng has undergone earth-shaking changes, no longer the city of Tao Qian's era, the Tancheng in front of him, is twice as large as the original city, expanded on the basis of the original city, but still retains the city wall of the original city, within the scope of the new expansion, it has become a commercial port lined with shops, The original city became the inner city, and all commercial activities were carried out only in the outer city, the inner city was the residential area, and the government office place, and the military camp was set up in the western corner of the city, which was a unique military control area, and no one was allowed to approach it without the order of the governor.

The expanded city wall of Tancheng is also different from the old inner city wall, the inner city wall is mostly made of huge bluestone, but the newly expanded city wall is modeled after Pengcheng, built with reinforced concrete, and then irrigated with cement outside, which is considered to give full play to the modern technology used by Zhang Yan to build Pengcheng, and the city can not help but be solid, and the outside is also painted.

The roads in the city were repaired with cement, and even the houses were basically built with cement. Entering this city, it is like entering a strange shijie, and in just three years, the development of Tancheng has surprised Zhang Yan.

After Zhang Yan entered Tanchengzhong, he went straight to Mi Zhu's mansion, he was familiar with the road, and soon came to Mi Mansion, and the family of Mi Mansion saw Zhang Yan's arrival, and immediately went in to inform Mi Zhu.

Mi Zhu hurriedly came out to greet him, but he didn't want to see Zhang Yan coming, so he immediately wanted to bow down, but he was supported by Zhang Yan, who was quick-eyed, and said to Mi Zhu: "Brother doesn't have to be like this, there is only Zhang Yan today, there is no King Yan!" ”

Mi Zhu naturally obeyed his fate, so he welcomed Zhang Yan into the mansion, asked people to prepare a banquet, and gave up the seat to Zhang Yan to sit.

Zhang Yan didn't want to sit, but sat face to face with Mi Zhu, he felt that it was much more cordial to sit like this.

"His Royal Highness King Yan suddenly visited, is there something urgent?" Mi Zhu said.

Zhang Yan smiled: "Do you have to be in a hurry to come to see my brother?" As I said just now, there is only Zhang Yan today, there is no King Yan, you are my brother, I am your brother-in-law, don't be restrained. ”

Having said that, Zhang Yan is the King of Yan after all, and although Mi Zhu nodded, he still called Zhang Yan the King of Yan.

After the wine and food were served, Zhang Yan chatted casually with Mi Zhu for a while, and when talking about the expansion of Tancheng, Zhang Yan asked: "When did my brother expand Tancheng, why didn't I see it on the song?" ”

Mi Zhu said: "Because I didn't play, the population of Tancheng has been growing in recent years, the original city is a little smaller, and the circle of people's lives is also smaller, and the expansion of Tancheng is an urgent matter, so I raised some money from the merchants to expand Tancheng, and specially opened up a commercial area for these merchants to operate." ”

"I said! I see that my brother used cement to build new cities and repair roads, and it seems that my brother is quite talented in building cities! ”

"These are all the credit of King Yan, wasn't the cement used by King Yan first, and when King Yan built Pengcheng, he also used a process called reinforced concrete, and the Pengcheng built was extremely strong. I'm just drawing a scoop from a gourd. ”

Zhang Yan laughed, and as soon as the conversation changed, he got to the point, took a sip of stuffy wine, and his face became slightly melancholy.

Seeing this, Mi Zhu hurriedly asked, "His Royal Highness King Yan, is there anything on your mind?" ”

"Well, in front of my brother, I have nothing to hide, in fact, I came to find my brother this time, hoping that my brother can make an idea for me." Zhang Yan said.

Mi Zhu hugged his fists and said: "If King Yan has any difficulties, I will definitely do my best to help!" ”

Zhang Yan said: "Now the treasury is empty, I can't make ends meet, and the gap between income and expenditure is getting bigger and bigger, my brother is a businessman, and he is very good at business, I wonder if my brother can point out some ways to make money for me, so as to make up for the gap in taxes and enrich the treasury?" (To be continued......)