Li Yan took Wen Xin and the others to enjoy the scenery. Although the weather was hot, Li Yan had already made a special carriage when he was in Dengzhou. The carriages were all double-layered, which could be used for heat insulation. In addition, it was not hard to use ice to cool down. In addition, the girls were all in a fun mood, so these days seemed much more lively than before. Seeing that they were so happy, Li Yan ordered people to slow down. The journey of two or three days had been for five days, but today they finally arrived at the city of Taiyuan.

When Li Yan's convoy entered Taiyuan City, local officials immediately greeted him. After all, their ranks were carrying thousands of guards. Such a huge team was impossible not to disturb the local government. After entering Taiyuan City, Li Yan and his group were arranged to be in Taiyuan Palace. This palace was built by Li Yan's grandfather Yang Guang. Later, Li Yuan raised an army and not only occupied the palace, but also did not let the concubines in the palace go. Now the entire palace is considered a royal property, and it just happened to be suitable for Li Yan to live here.

After arranging Wen Xin and the others, Li Yan drove all the officials who visited out, on the grounds that he was working hard and wanted to take a break, and he would not see any foreigners these days. However, after the officials left, Li Yan brought Hu Li and a dozen guards out of the corner gate to meet Wang Kuang and Cui Yu, and went to find the madman who made plans together.

Originally, Li Yan thought that Wang Kuang would take him directly to the man's house, but Wang Kuang looked at Shichen and took him to find a hotel called "Prairie Old Wine". Just as they rode their horses to the door of the hotel, they saw a cripple man with disheveled hair and covered in dirt, carrying a simple large food box in his hand. He was walking towards the alley next to him.

Seeing this cripple man's embarrassing look, Wang Kuang immediately turned over and got off the horse, ran a few steps, and seemed to want to come forward to help, but he was caught up by Cui Yu and said anxiously: "Brother Wang, don't be reckless. Have you forgotten your uncle's temper?"

Cui Yu's words immediately calmed down Wang Kuang. His eyes looked complicated at the person who was slowly moving forward in front of him, and the circle turned slightly red. After a while, he said in a trembling voice: "Okay, I've been enduring it for so many years, and I don't care about it for a while."

Li Yan looked at the performance of the two. He was already sure in his heart that the cripple who had just walked over was the person they were looking for. But what surprised him was that Wang Kuang, who had always been very determined, now he was so excited. What was his relationship with this person?

Thinking of this, Li Yan walked up and asked, "Brother Wang, Brother Cui, this person is..."

Since he had arrived in Taiyuan City and Li Yan had seen the man, there was no need for Cui Yu and Wang Kuang to keep it secret. After looking at each other, Cui Yu stepped forward and sighed: "Your Highness, you must have seen that this man is the one who offers advice, and..."

Cui Yu paused when she said this. She turned her head and looked at Wang Kuang, then took a deep breath, and said again: "Your Highness, this person's name is Wang An. Not only is he a talented wise man, but he is also the father of Brother Wang!"

When Wang Kuang heard Cui Yu's words, he sighed with pain on his face, his eyes closed tightly, and two lines of clear tears dripped from his face.

Li Yan was shocked after hearing this. He really didn't expect that the beggar-like figure who had just passed by was Wang Kuang's father? But wasn't Wang Kuang from the eldest son of the Wang family in Taiyuan? How could his father be so down and out? With the wealth that Wang Kuang had, how could he let his father look like this? And looking at him, he didn't seem to be an unfilial person?

Thinking of this, Li Yan looked at Wang Kuang with a puzzled look, but he looked sad now. It was really not suitable to disturb him at this time. As for Cui Yu, he grabbed Li Yan and said, "Your Highness, this matter is very complicated. Let's follow Uncle Wang first, but don't disturb him. I will explain in detail to Your Highness on the way!"

Although Wang An's legs and feet were not flexible in front, he had already walked a long distance and was about to turn the corner of the street. Li Yan saw that it was right. He followed Cui Yu and pulled Wang Kuang up. Wang An drank a lot of drunken five kings, especially when he went out and was blown by the little wind, his drunkenness surged again, and his heart was full of how to maintain balance and not knock the food box in his hand over. Therefore, he didn't care about Li Yan who was following him at all, and Cui Yu slowly told some of Wang An's situation.

Since Wang An was the father of Wang Kuang, he naturally came from the Wang family in Taiyuan. When he was young, he was the most outstanding child of the Wang family. He was less than 20 years old and the Jinshi in the Sui Dynasty. However, because of his young age and the arrangements of the clan, Wang An did not serve in Chang'an, but was released from other places and became the county magistrate of a county.

In fact, anyone with discerning eyes knew that the reason why Wang An was exiled as an official was that the Wang family in Taiyuan was gilded to him. Once the term of office was over, they could enter the political center of the Sui Dynasty. With the qualification to exil, they would be promoted faster. Wang An didn't care about these things. He was full of passion for scholars at that time and wanted to benefit the people based on his own talents, but he didn't care much about future promotions.

However, reality is beautiful, but reality is extremely cruel. Wang An, who is full of saints' books, encountered the same problem as a college student who had just left school a thousand years later. That is, he felt that most of the content he had learned before was not in line with the problems existing in reality. Sometimes, even if he encountered the problems mentioned in the book, if he followed the solution given in the book, it would make things worse. This made Wang An, who was still very young at the time, doubt the book of sages he had read for more than ten years.

Although the county under Wang An was not particularly poor at that time, due to the heavy labor tax at the end of the Sui Dynasty, the lives of the people in the county were not easy. The people in the county could not have a few full meals all year round, and even had to rely on wild vegetables to fill their hunger for half a year. Seeing this situation, Wang An, as the head of a county, felt deeply guilty.

Unable to find a solution from the books of sages, but Wang An, who was tenacious in nature, did not give up. Instead, he began to use his eyes and brain to observe and think while observing. While observing and thinking, he also handed over the experience he summarized for practice.

As a traditional scholar, if he wanted to improve the lives of the people under his rule, the first thing he thought of was land. Under his leadership, the people in the county began to promote water conservancy and reclaim wasteland. After two years of development, the cultivated land in the county increased by one third.

However, Wang An soon discovered that although the method of increasing land can increase a lot of food, the end result is just to let the people eat a few more meals a year. Most of the people in the county are still very poor. Moreover, the land and population in the county are limited, and it is impossible to grow unlimitedly. Therefore, no matter how much energy is spent, the final harvest will be so much!

Faced with this situation, Wang An quickly shifted his vision from the land. The wealth created by agriculture was limited, so he started industry. With the help of several local bamboo products with good sales, he started handicrafts in the county. When industry became popular, business naturally flourished. While the people in the county were mainly engaged in agriculture, they could work and earn a wage. The income immediately changed a few times, and their lives became richer. It was at this time that Wang An felt the power of industry and commerce for the first time, and was deeply attracted to it, and began to carefully study the impact and contribution of industry and commerce on the entire society.

But unfortunately, the beautiful scenery was not long. When Wang An had just figured out a clue, all the heroes emerged at the end of the Sui Dynasty. The county where he was located was famous for his wealth. Such a fat piece naturally attracted countless people to covet it. Although Wang An tried his best to organize the people in the county to defend themselves, he was unfortunately outnumbered. Later, he was captured by Dou Jiande's troops. He escaped alone under the desperate escort of his confidant family. Fortunately, his family had been sent to Taiyuan, so he was not trapped in the hands of the enemy.

His own capital was destroyed and the Great Sui Dynasty was dying again. Wang An had no way to serve the country and had to return to his hometown Taiyuan. However, he did not give up his research on industry and commerce. When the Li family of the Tang Dynasty rose and swept away the heroes with a force of sweeping the world, the Li Tang Empire was at its peak, Wang An finally sorted out his theory.

Influenced by Confucianism, the Central Plains has always regarded agriculture as the foundation of a country. This sentence is not wrong, but the mistake is that Confucianism exaggerates the role of agriculture infinitely. It is good that agriculture can provide food necessary for human survival, but due to the limitations of natural laws, the wealth created by a person on the land is actually limited. In addition to the first demand for food and drink, people have other higher needs, such as clothing, housing, transportation, etc. These cannot be directly generated by land, but are created by other people. The ones that create these higher needs are industry and commerce that are despised by Confucianism.

It is precisely based on this that Wang An systematically studied the role of industry and commerce, and made it a theory, and began to spread it to his friends around him. However, his approach caused severe bans from elders in the clan. After all, this theory that subverts Confucian classics has shaken the foundation of the existence of various aristocratic families.

Wang An, who was only in his twenties at the time, was very dissatisfied with the prohibition of the clan. After all, it was his hard work for many years, and he insisted that he was correct. So he, who was young and energetic, decided to leave Taiyuan and go to Chang'an to promote his theory. In addition, he also heard that the Tang Dynasty was established at the beginning and there were serious shortages of officials, which was a good time for him to show his strength.

It was also under this idea that Wang An arrived in Chang'an to promote his own doctrines, but in the Confucian environment, his doctrine of vigorously promoting industry and commerce was not accepted at all, and was even denounced as fallacies. Wang An was mentally prepared for this situation, so he was not discouraged. While persisting in promoting his doctrines, he looked for like-minded people. Gradually, with his superhuman knowledge, he attracted many people to discuss with him. Although he did not fully accept his views, he was no longer as repulsive as before. Just as Wang An's situation in Chang'an improved step by step, he suddenly encountered obstacles from the family behind him.

(To be continued)

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