Ang Lee was not sure whether Li Longji in front of him could accept his proposed solution. Therefore, before he spoke of his idea, he needed to prepare for it and give Li Longji a heads-up in case he suddenly proposed a strategy with great significance and scared Li Longji.
"Your Majesty, my suggestion may need to change a lot of things. It is also a method that many businessmen want to propose but dare not. However, Chang 'an City is currently very congested. If we don't adopt this method, I'm afraid it will be very difficult to solve the current huge problem."
Ang Lee continued to give Li Longji a heads-up, further making him unsure.
Li Longji was frightened by Ang Lee and took a deep breath. He asked boldly, "What is your idea? At least tell me first and let me listen to your brilliant idea. "
"Your Majesty, it's not a brilliant idea, but the current congestion in the capital city is really too severe. Therefore, we must use a strong medicine and a few doses of auxiliary medicine to fundamentally solve the current problem."
Ang Lee said very boldly.
"A strong medicine? A few doses of auxiliary medicine? What kind of strong medicine can make Assistant Minister Li so cautious? "
Li Longji was even more uncertain. Ang Lee had said that this method could solve all the problems of the capital city's congestion, but it was a strong medicine. How strong was this medicine? Would it shake the country's foundation of the Tang dynasty?
Ang Lee thought for a while and said, "Your Majesty, the reason why the capital is so congested is mainly caused by the congestion in the East and West Markets. On the one hand, the congestion in the East and West Markets is due to the increase in merchants and trade, which overloads the roads. On the other hand, because the opening hours of the East and West Markets are too short, they can only trade at a fixed time every day. In this way, it is bound to cause serious congestion in a short period of time. The increase in merchants and trade is a good thing, so it should not be restricted. Instead, it should be encouraged. In this way, there will be much more merchants and trade in the future. In the current situation, the congestion may be even more serious. The only solution we can take is to increase the opening hours of the East and West Markets, but an increase of one or two hours is definitely not enough. We need to open the East and West Markets all day long so that they can operate day and night.
Therefore, we have to open the East and West Markets all day long so that they can operate day and night. Assistant Minister Li's suggestion is really a strong medicine! We admit that by doing this, we can indeed greatly relieve the pressure on the roads for a short period of time, but it will also cause problems for public security. Assistant Minister Li, have you thought about it? "
Li Longji could not help but admire Ang Lee's courage. He actually dared to propose such a bold strategy. Other than Ang Lee, no other minister would dare to propose such an idea. And when it came from Ang Lee's mouth, Li Longji did not feel that it was a big problem.
"Your Majesty is right. The biggest advantage of the East and West Markets is that it can maintain the stability of public security and reduce the financial burden of the Imperial Court. However, the Imperial Court does not lack money at the moment, so we can hire more people to maintain public security. Moreover, the more prosperous the trade, the more money the Imperial Court can get. In addition, the problem of road congestion is already very serious, which is the most fundamental problem. Even if there are more problems with public security, it is still much better than continuing to be congested. After all, there will be more merchants and trade in the future, and it has reached the point where it has to be solved."
Ang Lee sternly explained.
"The problem of road congestion is more important than the problem of public security. Assistant Minister Li is right! However, Assistant Minister Li just said that there are some supplementary medicines. What are they? "
Li Longji was already helpless. He could only agree with Ang Lee's suggestion and ask Ang Lee for more strategies.
"Your Majesty, just solving the East and West Markets and allowing them to open 24 hours a day can only temporarily relieve the congestion on the roads. It can't further stimulate the prosperity and development of commerce. If we want to further stimulate commerce, we need to tear down the walls of the East and West Markets, and even the 108 squares in the capital, so that people and merchants can travel freely and make the Tang dynasty more open and prosperous."
Ang Lee made a very important suggestion.
"Tear down the walls of all the squares in the capital? Assistant Minister Li's idea is really bold. Won't it make the capital extremely chaotic? The pressure on the officials of the squares to maintain public security will be even greater. Can it really work? "
Li Longji was once again shocked by Ang Lee's point of view. He didn't dare to imagine what the capital would be like after all the walls were torn down. Would it become more prosperous or more chaotic?
Li An knew that Li Longji would react this way, so he hurriedly explained, "Your Majesty, all the walls are only as tall as a person. They can only prevent commoners from walking around, but they can't stop thieves from climbing over the walls. Therefore, the value of the walls is only to restrict commoners. They don't hinder thieves at all. Keeping the walls is just a form of psychological comfort. In fact, it doesn't have much use. Instead, it obstructs commoners from walking around."
Instead, it prevents thieves from entering and exiting. "After Ang Lee's explanation, Li Longji pondered for a long time. He repeatedly repeated Ang Lee's suggestion that the walls were just a psychological comfort. He increasingly felt that what Ang Lee said was very reasonable. The walls that were not much taller than a person could not prevent thieves from entering and exiting. Instead, they obstructed ordinary people from entering and exiting. The value of their existence was indeed very questionable.
However, Ang Lee's suggestion to lift the night curfew and tear down all the walls in one breath had a great impact on the entire capital. As long as these two things were carried out, the entire capital would completely change. Li Longji found it hard to imagine what kind of scene it would be.
"Lifting the night curfew and tearing down the walls. Assistant Minister Li is really bold! Do you have any other bold ideas? Tell me all of them! "
Li Longji gradually became less surprised after a period of time. He then asked for more solutions.
"Your Majesty, the rest of the methods are auxiliary. They are not very effective, but they are very useful. For example, after the curfew is lifted, when there is no moon at night, the roads will become very dark. It is necessary to place illuminating braziers at every intersection of the roads, and install rain-proof canopies on top of the braziers to prevent rain. For important wide roads, we need to place braziers at intervals to form a straight line to ensure that merchants and commoners can walk at night. In addition, all the walls on both sides of the roads should be painted white with lime. In this way, even if there is only a small torch at night, the entire road will be quite bright, just like when it snows, the night will be much brighter than usual."
Ang Lee explained the whitewashing suggestion in one breath. He paused and then continued, "Your Majesty, there is another very important measure, which is to set the time for the transportation of large quantities of goods. For example, if some merchants in the Western Regions want to transport hundreds of goods at one time, these vehicles will appear on the streets abruptly, which will inevitably hinder traffic. You can set the rule that they can transport the goods to the market in the city at night when there are few people, and then immediately distribute them to the peddlers in the capital. In this way, the peddlers in the capital can start selling the goods in the morning when there are many people. Also, if the peddlers in the capital have gathered a large quantity of goods and need to transport them to the Western Regions for sale, they can also choose to transport them at night when there are few people to sell them. They can also directly transport them to the newly built western railway station in the capital at night. The train can also start moving at night to transport the goods to the Jade Gate Pass in the west, and then continue to transport them to the Western Regions. In addition, although the night curfew has been lifted, there is no need to open all the city gates at night. One gate can be left open in the east, west, and east, and the other gates can be closed at night. After all, there are relatively few merchants and common people at night, so it is enough to open three city gates in three directions.
After listening to Ang Lee's more detailed suggestions, Li Longji was shocked again. Painting the walls on both sides of the street white was a huge project! Moreover, was it really appropriate to paint the streets white? What would the ministers and envoys think? It was not a big problem to light more torches in the city at night. The Tang dynasty was now rich and had the capital and strength to do so. As for the bulk commodities, it was also very reliable to choose to trade at night. Some time ago, he heard a minister report that there was a caravan from Stone Kingdom with 1,000 camels. More than half of them were carrying the same product. The whole street was full of camels. At the entrance of the western market, it caused an extremely serious congestion. As a result, the closing time of the western market was delayed by 15 minutes. The merchants had to stay in the city for the night. They originally planned to stay outside the city after selling their goods. After all, the accommodation outside the city was much cheaper than inside the city.
"Assistant Minister Li, your suggestions today are all very bold. They are all questions that the other ministers dare not even think about. I need to think about it carefully. You can go back first!"
Li Longji was a little confused. After all, the reform suggestions put forward by Ang Lee were all very bold. It was difficult for him to adapt in a short time. Even if he understood that doing so could indeed promote the prosperity of Chang 'an, he could not immediately give orders to reform according to Ang Lee's suggestions. As the monarch of a country, he had to be very careful.
"Yes, Your Majesty. I'll take my leave."
Ang Lee had already put forward all the good ideas he had thought of. As for whether he could accept them or not, it was up to Li Longji. Ang Lee could only resign himself to fate.
After Ang Lee left, Li Longji lay on the dragon bed and fell into deep thought. The many suggestions put forward by Ang Lee just now were all very bold. They all challenged the cognition of this era, which made him unable to calm down for a long time.
Of course, Ang Lee was not only so in thought, but also in action, which was very different from this era. Now, all kinds of advanced machinery in the Tang dynasty were invented by Ang Lee. These things were absolutely impossible for others to think of.
"Where did this Ang Lee come from? Why does he know so many things at such a young age? It doesn't make sense! Is he an immortal sent by Heaven to the mortal world? "
Li Longji lay on the bed and fell into a state of curious contemplation.
In the next few days, Ang Lee continued to be busy in the R&D Center, while Li Longji continued to think about various solutions to the congestion in Chang 'an proposed by Ang Lee. He also tried to discuss with Li Linfu and other ministers.
As a result, all the ministers who heard this proposal were shocked and asked Li Longji to confirm who was so bold to put forward such a proposal. Of course, a few ministers thought that Ang Lee's proposal was very constructive and could be tried. However, they had to experiment one by one to avoid making too many changes at once and causing too much discomfort to the people in the capital.
After nearly ten days of thinking and discussion, Li Longji finally issued the first imperial edict, which required that the East Market and the West Market could be open continuously without any time limit. Of course, if the peddlers were tired at night, they could close earlier. This was not mandatory, but there was no limit to the opening hours. In addition, the Golden Light Gate in the west of the capital and the Chunming Gate in the east of the capital were never closed. The night curfew on the wide street between the two gates was lifted. That was to say, after the night curfew, only the road between the Chunming Gate and the Golden Light Gate, the East Market and the West Market could be freely walked.
In this way, the major merchants could trade at night. Anyway, the East Market and the West Market were on the south side of the road. Normal business would not violate the night curfew.
Although this step was very small and conservative, it had already greatly reduced the congestion in the capital. During the day, although the roads were still crowded with people, there were no longer any congested situations. At night, it also became relatively lively, and the prosperity of business was further increased.
After a period of adaptation and running-in, Li Longji and all the ministers approved of this good idea. Although this slight change was very small and only lifted the night curfew on one road and two markets in the capital, the result was that the congested East Market and West Market had become less congested. The occasional small-scale congestion was normal and nothing at all. Many of the officials in charge of the market in the capital also heaved a sigh of relief.
When everyone knew that the person who made this suggestion was Ang Lee, they all praised Ang Lee, especially all the merchants. They were even more grateful to Ang Lee because of Ang Lee's suggestion, they could do better trade and no longer have to suffer the pain of congestion.
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