It was less than half a month before the New Year. The merchants in the capital had begun to sell their New Year's goods. Colorful decorations were hung everywhere in the streets and alleys. Among them, red lanterns were the most eye-catching. Other kinds of trinkets were placed all over the streets and alleys. Many poor literati did not forget to use this opportunity to make some money. They went out and set up a stall, which was responsible for writing couplets for people to receive a small fee for their hard work.
In fact, other than ordinary literati who were not doing well, great literati who were not financially well-off would also come out to set up stalls. Furthermore, they would set up stalls in groups. For example, Great Scholar Li Bai did not forget to use this opportunity to earn some extra money for himself. After all, writing couplets was much easier than writing poems. His calligraphy was also very good, and the price could be much higher than others. As long as one had a little bit of money, they would be willing to write a couplet.
As soon as Ang Lee entered the city by car, he saw Li Bai, who was setting up a stall on the street, accompanied by several famous poets. They formed a group to write couplets for ordinary people. The business seemed to be very prosperous. In addition, some rich businessmen even put forward their own unique requirements. They asked Li Bai to come up with a couplet himself, which would be more in line with the requirements of the businessmen. Naturally, the price would be more. The specific price mainly depended on whether the couplet was wonderful and the satisfaction of the businessmen.
In short, from the situation on the scene, it could be seen that Li Bai could make a lot of money this time. Many grains of sand made a tower. If one person wrote a couplet, so many couplets added together, it would be a large amount of money.
Of course, this way of making money by hard work was still very limited in the end. It was far less than making money by selling goods, let alone making money by owning core technology.
"Stop the car."
Ang Lee saw Li Bai setting up a stall and wanted to go down to have a look and ask for a couplet.
"Not bad! Brother Taibai, there are fifty people in line. Your business is booming! "
Ang Lee walked over quietly. Because he was not wearing an official's uniform, no one noticed Ang Lee at first.
"Assistant Minister Li also wants to write a couplet?"
Li Bai was surprised to see Ang Lee and asked, but he did not stop writing. He was a good literati and could write couplets while chatting with others.
"Of course I want a couplet, but the queue is too long. I'll have to wait for a long time!"
Ang Lee looked at the long line and seemed to be in a difficult position.
"Assistant Minister Li, please. I can wait for a moment."
The person waiting for the couplet tactfully took a few steps back, leaving the seat for Ang Lee.
Of course, Ang Lee also appreciated this favor, so he asked, "Brother Taibai, you worked in the Tang dynasty, so your salary and royalties should be quite a lot. Is it not enough to spend?"
"I have enough to eat and drink every day. The main problem is that I don't have a place to live. It's not convenient to rent a house all the time. Madam is always nagging me to earn more money to buy a house. I don't have any other abilities except for writing and drawing. I've embarrassed myself in front of Assistant Minister Li."
Li Bai said embarrassedly as he handed the couplet he had just written to the commoner.
"That's right. Li Taibai, who calls the world his home, also wants to buy a house in Beijing. If that's the case, it looks like the housing prices in Beijing are going to rise again!"
Ang Lee said with a smile, which made the commoners behind him whisper and think about buying a house.
Li Bai smiled awkwardly and asked, "Assistant Minister Li, what do you want to write?"
Ang Lee thought for a moment and said, "Something happened in the Railway Bureau recently. Just write a couplet about the railway! It's also to encourage the staff of the Railway Bureau. "
"Assistant Minister Li, have you thought of a couplet about the railway?"
Li Bai asked as he thought in his mind, so that he could quickly come up with a couplet.
Ang Lee had a lot of couplets in his mind, so he blurted out, "The journey of thousands of miles is the same track. The traveler of Jiuzhou shares the same thoughts."
"Good, good, good …"
As soon as Ang Lee said the couplet, the commoners behind him cheered happily. Li Bai nodded with satisfaction and quickly wrote down the couplet.
"Another one. The mountain passes thousands of miles are close at hand. The path of Shu changes thousands of times."
Ang Lee said another couplet, which immediately caused another round of applause. Even Li Bai couldn't help but admire Ang Lee's talent. As long as it wasn't prepared in advance, Ang Lee's ability to make couplets was too strong. He hadn't even gotten to know him yet, but Ang Lee had already come up with two couplets.
When Li Bai finished writing the second couplet, Ang Lee said again, "Since I'm here, write a few more. Another one. The morning comes and the evening arrives at the Silk Road. Send it to the Fog City."
"Good, good …"
The commoners' cheers were getting louder and louder. They worshipped Ang Lee even more.
"The wheels roll through Shu Road. The spring breeze reaches the Jade Pass."
"Through thousands of miles, don't open a new path. Gather the iron of Jiuzhou, far away from Kang Zhuang."
…
Ang Lee wrote a few more couplets in one breath. Each of them was related to the railway. Moreover, the couplets were very good. They won the heartfelt praise from everyone, including Li Bai. Ang Lee even memorized these couplets and asked to publish them in the Tang dynasty newspaper. Of course, Ang Lee agreed. This time, Ang Lee was going to the railway bureau to comfort the employees there. At the same time, he was going to negotiate with Yang Guozhong and ask him not to ignore the interests of the ordinary railway employees when he was handling the case. He didn't want the ordinary railway employees to be disappointed.
In the past few days, Ang Lee had heard that because of the corruption case of the railway bureau officials, all the railway bureau officials were very nervous. As a result, they didn't even dare to give the most basic employee benefits casually. They didn't want to be caught and accused of using the imperial court's money to buy people's hearts. If so, they might be in trouble.
However, this kind of behavior of the officials did greatly harm the interests of the ordinary employees, especially since the New Year was coming. Where were the promised year-end bonuses and New Year gifts?
Because the officials had already told the ordinary employees about the cancellation of the year-end bonus and the New Year's gift, and they also told them the reason. But after hearing the news, all the ordinary employees of the Railway Bureau seemed very unhappy. Their enthusiasm for work suddenly disappeared. Some employees even deliberately caused trouble and complicated the originally simple things. They could clearly make decisions by themselves, but they deliberately delayed it and then asked for instructions from their superiors. As a result, the superiors could only leave the office constantly, and their workload greatly increased.
There were also those who deliberately replaced the railway parts that could still be used and replaced the well-used parts with brand new ones. This was naturally a great waste and would increase the expenditure of the railway department. The leaders were also helpless about this because it was difficult to completely quantify the damage of the parts. Whether it really needed to be replaced, in many cases, the parts needed to be dismantled to be completely determined. Since it was dismantled, it naturally needed to be replaced with a brand new one. It was impossible to reinstall the parts that were worn out, so the next maintenance time would be shorter.
There were even some employees of the railway department who directly used the tools in their hands to destroy the parts of the train to vent their resentment. This was also difficult to supervise, especially some parts that were not particularly important. Even if they lost some, no one would care. However, this little waste should not be done.
In short, as long as the ordinary employees did not work well, then it would bring a lot of losses to the department. Long-term dissatisfaction would cause more serious consequences. Appropriate appeasement was still necessary.
Ang Lee came to appease the railway employees, but Ang Lee was not idle. Several big businessmen in Beijing felt the emotions of the ordinary railway employees. They were worried that the situation would continue to develop and affect the transport of the railway department and their own business. Therefore, they went around sending gifts and New Year's greetings. They visited many officials in Beijing and asked them to intervene in the railway department to give their businessmen a way out.
Although they could still do business without the railway, the difference between not using the railway and using the railway was too great. Especially after so many years, they had completely adapted to the days of the railway, and the amount of goods they bought was also based on the condition that the railway was unblocked. If the railway was blocked, then all the plans of these businessmen would be broken, and the consequences would be quite serious, especially for the merchants who sold vegetables and perishable fruits. Once the railway was blocked, then all the goods in their hands would rot, and the losses would be extremely heavy.
Moreover, some of the merchants had already begun to experience this painful price. After some small turmoil in the direction of Luoyang, some of the merchants' goods were delayed, and for goods that could not be delayed, once they were not transported away in time, they would quickly become rotten waste. The originally expensive goods would become worthless, and for such heavy losses, the imperial court and the railway bureau would definitely not compensate them. Thus, the merchants could only bear with it. Who asked you to be unlucky?
Occasional losses were not worth mentioning for the wealthy merchants, but if the losses accumulated over a long period of time, then no merchant could afford it. Therefore, they had to do their best to maintain the stability of the railway operation, even if it was a petition.
However, because the railway bureau was now in the teeth of the storm, even if these merchants ran errands everywhere, not many dared to stand up and do things for them. Everyone could not wait to hide, so how could they be willing to get involved in this mess? Only Ang Lee was willing to take the trouble to run errands for the merchants.
After all, the railway was also established by Ang Lee, so he naturally had more say in the railway operation. In addition, Ang Lee also hoped that the railway operation could be carried out stably, so that the Tang Empire would become more and more prosperous, and this was also Ang Lee's ultimate goal. Therefore, no matter what, Ang Lee had to take care of this matter.
Li Bai was still thinking about the couplets that Ang Lee had just made on the spot, and Ang Lee had already taken these couplets to the railway bureau headquarters, ready to personally ask the employees of all levels there.
The railway was outside the city, but the railway bureau headquarters was in the city. The one outside the city was the Chang 'an Railway Branch Office, because it was closer to the palace, so many things were more convenient to do.
The merchants' shops along the way had all been renovated. Tall new red lanterns were hung everywhere, showing a strong festive atmosphere. However, at the entrance of the Railway Administration Headquarters, there was no festive atmosphere at all. There was not even a basic red lantern. The guards at the entrance were also dispirited, as if the whole world owed them a lot of money.
They could not be blamed for this. After all, they were used to receiving a large amount of year-end bonuses and New Year's goods at the end of the year. They worked hard for a year just for these benefits. Without these benefits, how could they be satisfied? They could not explain to their families. Even many employees did not dare to tell their families about the decision of the railway bureau, so as not to make them angry. They were trying to delay it for as long as possible!
The entrance was desolate, and the situation inside wasn't any better. Other than the dozen guards transferred by the imperial court who were still in good spirits, the railway staff inside were all listless. The higher the position of the staff, the more listless they were.
The imperial court's auditors had always been at the railway bureau headquarters, conducting a strict review of all kinds of accounts. As long as they found something wrong, they would investigate it, find the corrupt people, and bring them to justice.
After a few days of checking the accounts, the imperial court's auditors had found many loopholes. They had also used these loopholes to arrest the relevant people in charge of the railway. However, the relevant accounts had not been completely checked yet. If they were done, they would probably continue to arrest another batch.
However, it was difficult to cheat under the emperor's feet. Therefore, the corruption of the railway bureau headquarters and the Chang 'an Railway Branch Office was not as high as the corruption of the Luoyang Railway Branch Office.
"Why is Assistant Minister Li here? What's the matter?"
A small official came forward to greet him.
Ang Lee took out the couplets that he had prepared and said, "This official saw that the railway bureau was too deserted, so I specially sent a few couplets. Come, help me. Paste these couplets on the entrance and other places. Do not leave a single one behind."
"The journey of thousands of miles is the same track, the voice of the travelers of the nine provinces."
After the small official finished reading, he sighed in his heart and quickly asked people to paste the couplets. Because of the big incident at the railway bureau, the top leaders were under house arrest. Therefore, naturally, no one dared to go out and buy the couplets. Since Ang Lee had sent them, there was no need for them to refuse. After all, they also hoped that their office could paste the couplets. Previously, they did not paste the couplets because of the incident at the railway bureau. No one dared to make this request. Now that Ang Lee stood up for the railway bureau, they were naturally very happy.
Moreover, from the contents of the couplets, it could be seen that this was an acknowledgment of their railway department. This made the railway employees very touched. Anyone's hard work would hope to be recognized by the world. Only then could they feel satisfied and happy. Only then would they feel that their work was meaningful.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
