The Lone Star of the Tang Dynasty

"When I return to the mansion, I will immediately adjust my strategy, increase the price of pen and ink, and make sure that Li Er's edict to carry out the imperial examination will become a dead letter and become a laughing stock of the world, so as to comfort Ling Sun and Ling Lang in the spirit of heaven!" Lu Changgeng said firmly, and his words were full of determination and confidence.

After a few days, the eye-catching event seemed to be quickly diluted by the hectic pace of life in Chang'an City.

Whether it is ordinary people or dignitaries, Shinong and businessmen have returned to their daily lives, as if nothing had happened.

Beneath this seemingly calm surface, a drama of cultural inheritance and social change is quietly unfolding, with various forces secretly wrestling, only to make waves again when the time is ripe.

...... a few days later

In a dilapidated ancient temple in the western wilderness of Chang'an City, under the oblique light of the setting sun, a young figure sat in a corner of the temple, sometimes looking out of the temple gate, full of expectations.

Soon, a figure came hurrying in the dust.

"Ziyang, how is it?" As soon as the old man Xie Zhongyuan saw the visitor, he immediately stepped forward excitedly to ask.

He and Gao Ziyang are both from Taiyuan, both from a poor family, this time they went to Chang'an to participate in the imperial examination, but they lost the first battle, so they had to make a living together, preparing to fight again next year.

Due to Xie Zhongyuan's old age and inconvenient legs, the two discussed that Gao Ziyang would enter the city to find out the news, buy food, and look for possible livelihood opportunities.

However, the reality is cruel, and he barely survives on Xie Zhongyuan's meager savings.

Recently, I heard that the price of pen and ink in Chang'an City has risen sharply, which undoubtedly sets up a greater obstacle for their study path.

Although the two have their own strengths, Xie Zhongyuan is proficient in mathematics, and Gao Ziyang is good at the art of war in history books, but in order to comprehensively supplement knowledge, reading is indispensable, and this sudden price increase has made the original poor life even worse.

Originally, he planned to use Xie Zhongyuan's income and savings from his small liquor shop to study hard for another year to prepare for the exam again. However, the liquor store has limited profits, and there is not much money to be gained from selling them, so they can only live in this ruined temple.

Even so, as long as you are careful about your budget, you can still support a year, and you can learn by borrowing books and copying them. But now that the price of pen and ink is skyrocketing, if they continue to study as originally planned, I am afraid that before the day of next year's imperial examination, the two will starve to death on the streets due to economic embarrassment.

Gao Ziyang ran around the streets and alleys of Chang'an for several days, trying to find cheap pen and ink, but to no avail.

When he returned to the temple today, seeing his shaking expression, Xie Zhongyuan knew that something was wrong, and his face was full of despair.

"Alas, what should we do!" Xie Zhongyuan looked up to the sky and sighed, his heart full of powerlessness.

Gao Ziyang lowered his head and choked up, full of emotion: "Your Majesty's resumption of the former Sui imperial examination is really a gift to our poor disciples, but the world is unpredictable and the times are not good." "

Xie Zhongyuan said indignantly: "These wealthy families are really extremely vicious! I have heard that they are besieging His Majesty in front of the Suzaku Gate, intending to force the revocation of the edict of the imperial examination. Now that the price of paper has soared, and pen and ink have begun to rise wildly, I am afraid that they are the ones behind the scenes!

Gao Ziyang took a deep breath, and with tears in his eyes, he suggested that Xie Zhongyuan return to the countryside with him and find a large family to work to make a living. Faced with this proposal, Xie Zhongyuan fell silent, his heart struggled painfully, his dream of the imperial examination was shattered, and all his efforts seemed to be in vain.

Gao Ziyang sighed again, expressing his hatred for the despicable behavior of those family lords: "Is there really no one who can stop them?

At this moment, there was a heavy and helpless atmosphere in the broken temple, and the two of them were full of unwillingness and anger in their hearts, but they could not change the predicament in front of them, so they could only face the bumpy road ahead with a tenacious attitude.

......

At the same time, in the Manna Palace, Li Shimin held the fold in his hand, and his face was as gloomy as iron.

He snorted coldly, and his words were full of dissatisfaction and warnings against the family gate valve: "These so-called family gate valves still seem to despise my methods." "

"Your Majesty, what's your concern?" Fang Xuanling and the eldest grandson Wuji stood side by side under the hall, sensing the sudden change in Li Shimin's complexion, and couldn't help but raise their eyes to explore his mood.

Li Shimin threw the fold in his hand casually, and there was an indescribable indignation and helplessness in that action.

The content of this recital...... Alas, see for yourselves. His words revealed his utter displeasure with what was contained in the recital, and he did not even want to mention it again.

Fang and Chang took the fluttering twists and turns, and after quickly browsing them, they instantly understood the reason.

Recently, due to the large-scale operation of paper mills, the price of paper in the world has dropped sharply to the level of affordable people, and overnight, reading and writing, which was once considered a luxury, has now become accessible to children from poor families.

At this moment, the problem revealed on the fold is extremely disturbing: the price of pen and ink has soared wildly across the country!

This matter is not limited to Chang'an, but a strange phenomenon that occurs in various places at the same time.

Although Li Shimin is not deeply involved in business affairs on weekdays, the previous situation of paper prices soaring is still vivid.

Just as the price of paper was successfully suppressed and the people were expected to benefit generally, the price of pen and ink rose sharply without warning.

Thinking of this, Li Shimin was secretly angry in his heart, if it weren't for these big families making trouble behind his back, he Li Er would not give up!

The eldest grandson Wuji and Fang Xuanling also looked at each other after reading the recital, and they were also shocked in their hearts.

This kind of behavior of manipulating the price of paper first and then the price of pen and ink is simply a naked provocation and plundering of people's livelihood, and it has no respect for the imperial examination system of the imperial court, as if the edict is regarded as toilet paper.

No wonder His Majesty is so angry about this, this is indeed an intolerable arrogant act.

Fang Xuanling and Eldest Sun Wuji are both delicate people, and they can fully feel Li Er's anger at the moment.

In all fairness, if you are faced with such a situation, you may not be able to deal with it calmly.

"Your Majesty, please calm your anger, this matter is indeed suspicious......" Fang Xuanling said cautiously.

"Your Majesty, it seems that there is a family behind the scenes...... "Eldest Sun Wuji added.

"If you don't know, you guys will get out of this year's money!" Li Er roared angrily.

Fang Xuanling and the eldest grandson Wuji immediately knelt down: "Your Majesty is angry!"

In fact, they understood Li Er's mood very well.

But there are some things that have to be said because of the situation.

Fang Xuanling and eldest grandson Wuji glanced at each other, and they both saw helplessness in each other's eyes.

The daily expenses of the imperial court, military expenditures, and the development of new weapons...... Piles and piles require huge financial support.

In particular, the development of the Divine Arm Bow and Grenade is simply burning money.

The silver taels of the treasury were consumed like flowing water.

And then there's the paper mill, which in theory can bring great profits, but in practice His Majesty was merciful enough to pay the craftsmen three times as much.

This was a good thing, and the people praised it.

However, the profit that would have been considerable was made ordinary by this act of benevolence. To make matters worse, the imperial court only had half of the shares of the paper mill, and the profits were naturally cut in half.

It is impossible to fill the huge hole in military spending.

......