Chapter 496 Fellow Taoist, please set off
A bright hall, a thin bamboo mat, a table, and one person sitting alone.
Yuan Wei has maintained this posture for a long time, until a person''s figure blocked his face.
“Meet Mr. Yuan!” Wang Yun raised his hand.
Yuan Wei raised his eyelids and said in a neutral tone: "Wang Situ has free time today. Will he see me, a dying person?"
??Wang Yun didn''t say anything about this, but smiled, walked over slowly, and sat down gently next to the table.
The waiter who followed Wang Yun was kneeling beside the two of them. Then he arranged the red clay stove, charcoal, copper cauldron, water ladle and other items one by one, then bowed and retreated, leaving the space for Yuan Wei. and Wang Yun.
?Wang Yun rolled up his sleeves, added some charcoal himself, and then heated the copper cauldron on the red clay stove.
Yuan Wei lowered his eyes, as if he didn''t care about anything around him, and didn''t care about what Wang Yun was doing, just like a completely forgetful outsider.
Wang Yun didn''t speak. He just looked after the small red clay stove and watched the water in the copper cauldron. It started from calm and stirred up waves, and then the overlapping bubbles became denser. For a moment, only the water in the bright hall was filled with water. The sound of water gurgling gradually began.
When the water was about to boil, Wang Yun took a carved lacquer box and put the tea powder that had been ground and selected with a radish sieve into the water. At the same time, he gently stirred the tea powder with a long-handled copper spoon in the kettle. The water fully contacts and blends together.
The water temperature continued to rise, and some bubbles began to appear. The color of the entire copper cauldron slowly began to change as the tea leaves were added. Wang Yun took a small carved pot and poured it into the pot with a silver spoon. He scooped out some green salt from the spoon and then sprinkled it into the copper cauldron.
This is the first boil.
After a while, some foam began to appear in the copper cauldron. Wang Yun slowly turned his wrist, scooped out the foam against the water, and placed it in a cooked bowl aside.
After almost all the foam was spooned out, Wang Yun added another spoonful of cold water to the copper cauldron, and then continued to stir slowly with a spoon.
This is a double boil.
Although there was a spoonful of cold water suppressing it, the temperature of the water had actually risen quite high. The aroma of tea slowly spread, and the water surface was like waves. Wang Yun took a spoonful of the foam cake that had just been poured out of the bowl. He poured it into the copper cauldron to stop the boiling, and then took out the copper cauldron with his hands covered with brocade cloth.
This is the third boil.
After three boils, the tea soup is ready.
Wang Yun poured out the tea soup and said: "Master Ge Tianshi''s tea is clear, elegant and upright. It would be unsightly to add too many vulgar things, so only a little of the source of all flavors is enough... Master Yuan, please give me some tea."
There is no more tea soup and no less tea soup, just divided into two bowls. As Wang Yun spoke, he slowly pushed the tea bowl placed on the wooden support to one side of Yuan Kai along the table.
The wisp of burnt aroma after roasting the tea leaves just right, mixed with the fragrance of the boiled tea leaves, blended together and lingered on the tip of the nose, causing Yuan Wei''s nostrils to involuntarily inflame twice: "Wang Situ, as expected, It’s a good idea to move the capital to the west and still have the Celestial Master’s tea…”
??Wang Yun smiled, then picked up the small lacquer box containing the tea, opened it and gestured to Yuan Wei, saying: "It''s all in this cauldron."
Yuan Wei twitched his eyebrows slightly, then picked up the tea bowl and began to sip slowly.
After drinking the tea, Yuan Wei put down the tea bowl, suddenly tapped the table gently, and chanted slowly: "The underworld is drinking, the body is broken, the soul is gone, the heaven and the earth are dead, the past is chasing me, The time has come..." His tone sounded a little resentful at first, then seemed confused, and finally revealed a trace of sadness, and his voice gradually weakened and became inaudible.
“Why is Mr. Yuan like this?” Wang Yun comforted.
Yuan Wei was silent for a long time and then said: "When will the execution be carried out? Jiujiu, or Bai Ling?"
Wang Yun was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said: "That''s right! That''s right, Grand Tutor! I have an important responsibility for you, why should I talk about life and death lightly?"
Yuan Wei was also stunned for a moment, rolled his eyes a few times, and said: "Situ Mo, don''t make fun of me. With such maocchi soil steps, mirage gray chalk walls, and a tiled house, how can you look like you have a heavy responsibility?"
?Wang Yun laughed and said: "The bright hall is five feet long, there are soft hairs for eating, and quilted mats for sleeping. How can it be biased?"
Yuan Wei paused, stroked his beard, and said with some expectation: "How is Shandong...now?"
"Luoyang has been burned, Shandong..." This matter is just that Yuan Wei is under house arrest and the information is not well-informed, but it is not a secret, and he will know it sooner or later, so Wang Yun did not hide it and said directly, "...it is also gone! "
Yuan Wei raised his head, and then his waist slowly slumped a little, and his head drooped, "In this way, the highway is the origin..."
“The highway originated in Henan, and its origin was in Ji.”
Yuan Wei let out a haha, shook his head with a wry smile, and muttered: "Hey, that little star, I came from the west and he was in the east, ha, ha, ha... You have to sacrifice your life..." "Why should Mr. Yuan be so benevolent..."
?Wang Yun was still waiting for his authority, but Yuan Wei unexpectedly said directly: "Why is the Prime Minister looking for me?"
?Suddenly, Kad Wang Yun paused, and then said: "Without him, I would like to ask the Taifu to also serve as Dasi Nong''er..."
"Da Sinong?" Yuan Wei repeated, suddenly glaring with triangular eyes, "Master, please tell the truth."
?Wang Yun sighed and was silent for a while before saying: "The Prime Minister wants to re-establish the position of Captain of Shuiheng."
"Captain Shuiheng..." Yuan Wei muttered and repeated, his face darkened, and he said, "Wang Situ, do you want me to sin against all the people? I will never accept it!"
What?
You don’t want to?
??If you are not willing, this position may fall on my head! Then I have to do the things that offend the people!
So, fellow Taoist, please go on your way...
Wang Yun came after accepting this order. He already had a clue about the current situation, so he slowly said: "In the past, King Wen was imprisoned and sat in the Book of Changes, Zhongni went on an ascetic journey and wrote the Analects, and Lingjun was slandered and wrote Li Sao. It can be seen that everything in the world can''t be fulfilled. How can you get white lotus roots without being covered with black mud? Or maybe Mr. Yuan wants to get three feet of white silk?"
??They all want to do what they want, and they are only willing to do things that feel good. How can there be such a bargain in the world? !
"One thought can lead to life, one thought can lead to death." Wang Yun lowered his voice and continued, "Only when you have the courage to take responsibility can you have a chance of survival. If you live here..."
Fellow Taoist, do you know that if you refuse, if I step forward, someone will bring you some gifts?
??If Yuan Wei was really not afraid of death, why would he procrastinate and endure such humiliation?
This point is clear to many people, including Wang Yun.
?Wang Yun looked at Yuan Wei and signaled Yuan Wei to make a choice.
Yuan Wei closed his eyes and his beard moved without any wind. After a long time, he sighed and said: "In this case, I can just let you be driven..."
??Wang Yun nodded and said: "Good! I will report back to the Prime Minister immediately... After a few days, I will have a drink with Mr. Yuan and have a good time. Let me take my leave first..."
So, how did currency maintain the operation of the dynasty?
After the currency is minted, the court will pay salaries to ministers, remuneration to craftsmen and servants, and military pay to generals and soldiers.
Then, these "those who eat the royal rations" use the money they received to buy things in the market.
Ordinary people also take grain or other products to the market to sell.
In the moment of buying and selling, money is transferred to the hands of the people.
Finally, the court collected part of the money from the people and returned it to the government through taxation.
Salaries, market circulation and taxation form a whole, in which currency completes cycles after cycles.
If there is a war, the court will issue more currency to plunder the wealth of the whole society.
Since currency is the tool used by the emperor to maintain the operation of the dynasty, it is naturally up to the emperor to decide what to use for casting. Copper is not a precious metal and has no scarcity value, so the cost of casting and issuance is relatively low.
By using copper coins, the court and government could maximize the “seigniorage”.
This “seigniorage” is the difference between the cost of minting coins and the scalar value of the coins. For example, the cost of casting a hundred copper coins may be only 10 yuan, but you can buy goods for 100 yuan, and the difference of 90 yuan is the seigniorage tax.
Compared with gold and silver, the cost of copper is low, and the price difference that can be formed is naturally large.
By forcing the emperor to use copper coins as legal tender, he could plunder the people at will without restriction.
So it’s not that China doesn’t use the gold and silver standard, but that many smart people deliberately don’t use it...
(End of this chapter)