In Chang'an, the warm cabinet in the palace, the daughter of the daughter (known as Princess Taiping to the outside world) Yuwen was talking to an old friend. She married the Turkic Khan as the princess of the Zhou Kingdom. This old friend was once a member of the bride-sending team and served as the deputy envoy.

The old friend's surname is Changsun and his name is Sheng. After sending Princess Qianjin into the Turkic Republic, he was left by the Turkic Khan. He was stranded on the grassland for a period of time before returning to the Central Plains.

Changsun Sheng was skilled in shooting skills and could kill two birds with one stone, which was admired by the Turkic nobles. He also made friends with nobles of all sizes, so he was very familiar with the internal situation of the Turkic.

Due to the incident in the second year of Daxiang, Changsun Sheng returned to the Central Plains and became a Sui minister. He Dun, the daughter of the Turks at that time, and the Yuwen family, the daughter of Zhou, was incompatible with the fire and water.

Now ten years have passed in a flash. In the Chang'an Palace, the Qianjin Princess met Sun Sheng, the deputy envoy of that year. The grievances and grievances have long disappeared. Now when talking about the old things and the grasslands, the two are quite moved.

When the Sui Kingdom was destroyed, Changsun Sheng was not liquidated and was idle at home. Now he is recommended to go to the Turks as an envoy to explore the current reality of the grassland.

This was not a difficult task for Changsun Sheng, because he was quite familiar with many Turkic nobles. After two years, the situation on the grassland had changed drastically. Khans of all sizes and big fights were in conflict and they were in a dark and dark place. I don’t know who laughed to the end now.

So before leaving, Changsun Sheng came to the palace to listen to the admonition of the daughter-in-law. After all, Kehe Dun knew much more about the Turkic situation than him.

The ex-husband of the Qianjin Princess, Ye Hu Khan (Asina Chuluohou), led his army to fight with the Persian army two years ago and died of arrows. The Qianjin was thus wandered among the people and went back to the Central Plains.

Now it is called Princess Taiping to the outside world, so as to prevent the Turkic Khan from sending envoys to Chang'an to ask for people after learning the news.

She could have not received Changsun Sheng to avoid revealing her true identity, but after many considerations, the daughter-in-law still offered to meet Changsun Sheng and reveal what she knew about the Turkic situation so that Changsun Sheng, who was about to go on a mission to the Turkic Republic, had a clear idea.

Princess Qianjin hopes that Changsun Sheng can continue to provoke civil strife in the Turks so that she has no time to look east, because the court is now using troops against the rebels and needs time to recuperate after the war, so it is best to stabilize the Turks with unknown trends at this time.

The Chang'an court did not know how far the internal strife of the Turks had developed. The emperor was worried that the Yuchi family, who was at the end of the road, would have a chance to hook up with the Turks. At that time, the Turkic army would invade Longyou, and its troops would be in short supply and could not resist.

Nowadays, most of the main troops of the Chang'an court are in Henan, with the main force being the royal family Yu Wenming. Yu Wen Wen commanded them separately. The situation is now very good and is waiting to give the Yuchi family a final blow. Once something happens in Guanzhong, the Henan soldiers and horses can't react at all.

Previously, the marshal Liang Shiyan recovered Chengdu, and the pseudo-Yizhou chief Xipiluo was defeated and killed. The army passed away in Chang'an the day before yesterday. The reason why they came back in such a hurry was because the court was worried that the Turkic army would invade from Longyou, so more troops needed to guard Guanzhong.

However, even so, the Chang'an garrison could only guard the capital. Once the Turkic army invaded, it was basically unable to take the initiative to fight.

Not to mention that the main force of the Guanzhong official army was concentrated in the Tongzhou area, confronting the Yuchi Qin army in Pujin, Hedong. Once the Turks invaded, they were unable to look west. At such a critical moment, the court naturally paid great attention to the movements on the grassland.

Changsun Sheng shouldered a heavy responsibility and knew that he had a great responsibility to go to the grassland. So after seeing the princess of Qianjin, he didn't say much in the scene, and he was asking questions.

As I asked and remembered, I unknowingly recorded several notes.

Finally, the Qianjin Princess took out ten hand-painted maps, and Changsun Sheng took them and looked carefully. He saw that these ten maps clearly painted the general situation of the East and West Turks.

The ten pairs of maps were finally completed after spending a lot of effort by the princess. Changsun Sheng carefully put the map away and bowed:

"Princess, please rest assured. When you go to the grassland, you must clearly explore the enemy situation. In any case, you must stop the Turks from invading the Central Plains!"

"Doctor Changsun, I have worked hard for the Turkic affairs. I wish Dr. Changsun will go to the grassland and be safe all the way back and forth."

"Thank you, the eldest princess, I will leave."

Changsun Sheng retired, walked out of the Warm Hall, and walked towards the palace gate under the guidance of the eunuch. He walked more than ten steps back to the Warm Hall, and saw that the thin figure of the Qianjin Princess was still standing on the steps.

A miserable woman.

Changsun Sheng thought so, sighed, and continued to move forward. Princess Qianjin said so much just now, not so much for the court, but for the emperor. Changsun Sheng felt that this sister-sibling relationship was really sad.

Before, when Princess Qianjin returned to Chang'an, Changsun Sheng heard a rumor that the emperor wanted to recruit a princess for Princess Taiping (Princess Qianjin), but the other party was unwilling to do so.

Changsun Sheng didn't know that Princess Taiping was the daughter of the past, but he only thought that the eldest princess had a high vision. Now it seems that she has lost her mind and is determined to accompany the emperor.

The brothers and sisters lost other relatives during the two-year chaos of the elephant. Now, in other words, they depend on each other for life.

It is said that when the emperor escaped from Yecheng last year, the Qianjin Princess lame one leg to protect the emperor. In this way, the Qianjin Princess became even more important in the emperor's heart.

Changsun Sheng heard from someone that the emperor cares a lot about whether others treat the daughter princess well. Whoever can make the daughter princess happy will be happy.

However, because of this, the daughter-in-law basically does not give others the opportunity to please her, so that someone will not use it to please the emperor. Therefore, it is very difficult to please the eldest princess.

However, Changsun Sheng also heard some rumors, saying that there seemed to be an exception. This person often went to the palace to give gifts, not only gifts to the emperor, but also gifts to the eldest princess.

Why did that person act like this?

Thinking of this, Changsun Sheng shook his head. This kind of thing has nothing to do with him. If he thinks too much, he has more worries. What he has to do now is to focus on the grassland.

He came to the palace gate under the eunuchs and was about to leave the palace, but he saw a large number of servants, horses and carriages waiting outside the gate. It was all waiting for officials who entered the palace, but now it is not the time for the court meeting.

The eunuch who led the way saw Changsun Sheng thinking, explained in time: "Doctor Changsun, this is the emperor holding a banquet in the palace to entertain the generals who returned from the Western Expedition."

"I see."

Changsun Sheng nodded and continued to move forward. He now wanted to leave Chang'an and go to the grassland.

After the marshal of the marshal and Duke of Hui Liang Shiyan led his army to pacify Shu, he should have stayed in Yizhou, but he was ordered to immediately lead some troops back to Chang'an. This move was mainly to consolidate the defense of Guanzhong, which was very necessary.

However, in a vague sense, Changsun Sheng felt that something was strange and felt that Chang'an City was not that calm.

For Changsun Sheng, it is better to go to the grassland to avoid right and wrong. After all, the Changsun family is different from the past. If he stands in the wrong team in the subsequent power struggle, he may not have such good luck.

......

In the warm trunk, Yuwen Gankeng, who ended the banquet, was talking to his sister's daughter princess, while the daughter princess's female companion, Persian Huji Agnes, stood beside him. In order to avoid making his sister embarrassed by alcohol, Yuwen Gankeng took a shower and changed his clothes and then came over.

The incense medicine placed in the sachet was sent from Fanyu Lingbiao. This is not a tribute tax, because the court has exempted the taxes from various places in Lingbiao this year. The reason why there are incense medicines sent on the sacred side of Lingbiao was the little intention of the clan King Xiyang.

At this time, Yuwen Gankeng talked about the battle situation in Henan and was in a good mood, so he talked about King Xiyang in a somewhat narrow-minded manner: "The King Xiyang is now in Bozhou and cannot cross the river and go north to attack Yecheng. Will there be any complaints?"

Princess Qianjin replied after hearing this: "The King of Xiyang knows the general situation and takes into account the overall situation. How could he complain? But I think it is true that the King of Xiyang is unhappy."

Princess Qianjin called herself a "concubine" in front of her younger brother. Just like the ordinary woman's claim, Yuwen Gankeng got used to it and agreed with her sister's views at this time.

The situation in the court is now very good, and Yuchi is about to end his life. Of course, Yuwen Gankeng is in a good mood. He just remembered the memorial not long ago by King Xiyang, and was inspired.

The Qianjin Princess said again: "I think the King of Xiyang is unhappy and cannot have an attack, so I remembered to make trouble with usury."

"Ultrition...Sister, it seems that this statement is not used much in the literature of all dynasties?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, generally speaking, lending, people always rush to use money and grain, so lending is normal. There are also many wealthy families who lend to make profits. However, when the interest rate of lending is higher than a certain degree, they are not willing to be detrimental."

Yuwen Gankeng has been a child with rich clothes and food since he was a child, and never asked about food, clothing and expenses. Therefore, he was not very clear about lending and lending. Seeing his sister talking about usury, he asked curiously: "Weury is really as Xiyang King said, is it so evil?"

"Your Majesty thinks there is something exaggerated about what King Xiyang said?"

"Ah, no, I just think it's strange, how did usury force the civilians to destroy their families?"

"Then, your Majesty dares to give me something?"

"Okay, what do sister want?"

Princess Qianjin smiled and asked the palace maid to bring a chessboard, a calculating piece, a bag of rice, a small scale for medicine, and some containers. Yuwen Gankeng was curious when he saw this item: "Sister, is this?"

"I want to ask Your Majesty to give rice."

"Okay, sister can do as much as you want!"

The Qianjin Princess replied: "Your Majesty, the amount of rice I want is the total number of rice grains filled with this chessboard lattice, and there are a lot of them."

Yuwen Gankeng didn't care: "It's okay, how many meters can you put down just a chessboard?"

"Since that's the case, I'll explain that the number of rice grains placed in each grid is given in detail, and the specific rules are as follows..."

Princess Qianjin carefully explained the rules, which is to put a grain of rice in the first grid, two grains in the second grid, four grains in the third grid, and eight grains in the fourth grid...

In other words, the number of rice grains placed in the new grid is doubled by the previous grid. Put it down so that all the chessboards are filled.

Yuwen Gankeng felt that the requirement was very simple. He was a dignified emperor and could not give rice full of chessboards, so he agreed and asked the eunuch to put the rice. As he put it, his brows gradually frowned.

First of all, the chessboard cannot put more and more rice grains, so he used calculations and then recorded the quantity on the paper. When a plaque "put down" it, he found that the number of rice grains became larger and larger.

As soon as I reached the 14th grid, why did it become 8,192 grains of rice? How heavy does it have to be?

Yuwen Gankeng thought so, and saw the Qianjin Princess ordering the eunuch to weigh the weight of one hundred grains of rice, and then converted it into the weight of eight thousand one hundred ninety-two grains of rice. The result was that the weight of these grains was about one pound.

Continue to "put" rice. When it reaches the 20th square, it is necessary to put 524,288 grains of rice in it, and convert it into weight, which is about six dou. The eunuch who is fiddling with the calculation of the foundation is busy making a lot of money.

When "put" to the 25th grid, the rice grains to be placed are about nineteen hu of weight; when "put" to the 35th grid, the rice grains are about twenty thousand hu.

When "put" to the fortieth grid, the weight of rice grains is about 600,000 hu; when "put" to the fortieth grid, the weight of rice is about 20,000 hu.

When "release" to the fiftieth square... it seems that there is not enough food in the whole world.

Yuwen Gankeng couldn't believe his eyes. At this time, the chessboard was still early before it was "putting it".

"This is...what is going on? How could it take so much rice?"

The daughter-in-law signaled the eunuch to put away the things, took the paper with amazing numbers, and explained to his younger brother what is usury: "Your Majesty, the profits of usury are similar."

"The person who borrowed the loan felt that the principal he borrowed was not much, and the interest rate seemed to be nowhere to be much higher, so he borrowed it. As a result, the profits were profitable and he was unable to repay it at all. However, it is natural to repay the debt. What should we do?"

Yuwen Gankeng asked: "Yes, what should we do?"

"Borrow new debts to repay old debts, the more you borrow, the more you owe. The profits will be sharp. In less than a year, even if a person owes a debt, the descendants will not pay it back, just like putting rice into this chessboard."

The daughter princess used the method that Yuwen Wen taught her in the letter to demonstrate to the emperor. With this easy-to-understand demonstration, she let her brother experience how the "profit" of usury caused the debtor's family to be destroyed.

"So that's it..." Yuwen Gankeng murmured, deeply shocked. He had never experienced the sufferings of the people, but he was not a fool. Looking at the result of putting rice grains on this chessboard, he finally knew why King Xiyang said that loan interest was a disaster to the country and the people in the memorial.

The court had to rely on the taxation of rent and tribute taxes in each prefecture and county to meet the huge daily expenses, support the army, and pay salaries to civil and military officials (physical goods, grain, cloth, etc.). These rent and tribute taxes all came from farmers.

If these farmers are destroyed by usury and their land is merged by lenders, the direct consequence is that rents are sharply reduced, the court's income is shrinking, the disaster relief cannot be provided, the army cannot be raised to resist foreign enemies, quell the rebellion, and finally collapse and change the dynasty.
Chapter completed!