Chapter 614: Inflation

Li Qing’an understood now—inflation, the Tang Dynasty-style inflation. Before, there weren’t many silver coins, so it wasn’t noticeable. But ever since he annihilated the Tubo army in Turfan, hundreds of thousands of Tubo prisoners were forced to work in silver mines. As a result, the number of silver mines in Anxi increased from five to thirteen, doubling the production of silver coins, which flowed continuously into the Central Plains. At the same time, King Li Lin of Wu occupied the Jiangnan region, preventing supplies from reaching Chang’an. Meanwhile, large quantities of goods were shipped westward through trade. Although this brought in real gold and silver, the abundance of money led to a shortage of goods—how could inflation not occur?

He had actually thought about this issue before, but without experiencing it firsthand, he hadn’t realized its severity. Now, he was beginning to grasp just how serious the problem was.

Li Qing’an thought for a moment, then pulled the shop assistant aside to another room. The assistant shook off his hand, rubbing his sore wrist and complaining, “Sir, if you have time, go buy rice quickly! Our boss says we need to start preparing for the New Year in a few days, and rice prices will rise by at least another 200 wen. Smart merchants are already rushing to buy it!”

Li Qing’an took out a money bag and pulled out a stack of silver coins—at least seven or eight pieces—and held them in his palm, smiling. “I have a few questions for you. If you tell the truth, these coins will be yours.”

The assistant became interested. With rising prices, his life was already difficult. Seven or eight pieces of silver could help him get by for a while. His face immediately lit up with a smile. “Ask away, sir. I’ll tell you the truth.”

“Good! First, how much do you earn in a month?”

“Eight guan!”

The assistant replied without hesitation. “Last year, it was six guan. Since everything has gotten more expensive, my boss, seeing how hard I work, gave me an extra two guan.”

“Is that enough?”

“It’s enough for me alone, but I have a family to support—elders and children. We don’t own any land, and our whole family relies on those eight guan to survive. Eight guan can buy two dan of rice, but by the New Year, we won’t even be able to afford that much. But for our family of seven, five dou of rice per month is enough. We use the rest to buy cloth for clothes, food, and other necessities. We only eat meat once a month. Life is very tight.”

Li Qing’an silently did some calculations. For a ninth-rank official, the total monthly salary, food, miscellaneous expenses, and other income added up to only eight guan. They still had to support their families and maintain proper relationships with colleagues, so the money was simply not enough. Fortunately, at the beginning of this year, he had finally paid off the backlogged salary that had accumulated over several years, allowing the officials to get by for now. But by next year, most low-ranking officials would likely be in severe financial straits. If An Lushan followed his example and provided additional money to these officials, it was likely that half of them would speak well of An Lushan. And these were just officials; there were also numerous clerks who received no salary at all, with monthly incomes of only about five or six guan. One could imagine how difficult their lives must be.

Li Qing’an began to realize the severity of the problem. He asked again, “I heard you say Li Qing’an is quite capable. How did things get so dire?”

“Capable?” The clerk sneered. “Yes, he’s too capable—so capable that it’s caused widespread resentment among the people. Everyone in Chang’an curses him.”

“Hey! Don’t talk nonsense!” Li Rong glared at him fiercely.

“Dalis!” Li Qing’an stretched out his voice and gave her an annoyed look. Li Rong dared not say anything again. Li Qing’an then smiled and reassured the clerk, “This woman just came from Anxi. The people of Anxi are grateful to Li Qing’an, so she doesn’t like others speaking ill of him. Don’t mind her. Go on.”

With that, he placed four silver coins in the clerk’s hand. Having received the silver coins, the clerk felt relieved and continued, “Actually, I wasn’t trying to speak ill of him. I’m just telling the truth. Do you know what the people of Chang’an call Li Qing’an?”

“What?”

“Li Qian Dou!”

“What… Li Qian Dou?” Li Qing’an wasn’t sure what he meant.

“It means that if he becomes emperor, rice will cost a thousand coins per dou, hence the name Li Qian Dou. There’s also a nursery rhyme that goes, ‘Li Shi Dou, Li Bai Dou—rising higher and higher. Next year, it’ll be Li Qian Dou, and no family will drink wine.’”

Li Qing’an remained silent, feeling sad. He never expected the common people of the Tang Dynasty to hate him so much. Governing the country wasn’t that simple after all!

At that moment, Mingzhu stepped forward and said, “I think this isn’t fair. Without General Li, An Lushan would have long invaded the capital. Countless people in Hebei would have died. There’s also Tubo—our Tang Dynasty’s long-standing threat—whom General Li also defeated. How can people not remember his good deeds at all?”

Mingzhu lived in high society and had never interacted with the lower classes. Hearing what the clerk said, she couldn’t help but feel sympathy for Li Qing’an.

The clerk also smiled bitterly and said, “Miss, General Li does have his advantages, as everyone knows. But with prices soaring so sharply while people’s wages only rise a little, the rich certainly don’t care and will praise him. But us commoners can hardly afford even food now. Last year we were relatively well-off, yet this year we’re in abject poverty. If last year we were poor, this year we’re begging for food. Go to the streets at night and see—more and more people are setting up stalls in the night markets. Isn’t it because every family is struggling? For us commoners, as long as we can afford food, everything else doesn’t matter. But some say the grain price in Youzhou is only eighty coins per dou. How can that make people feel?”
…
After leaving ‘Hu Hang Old Store,’ Li Qing’an visited several other rice shops and butcher shops nearby. The situation was indeed as the clerk and merchants had said—grain prices had risen, and so had meat prices. What used to cost eighty coins was now two hundred. This was because large amounts of beef and mutton had been brought in from Anxi; otherwise, meat prices would have skyrocketed even further. And these were still wholesale prices. By the time they reached the marketplaces and dining tables, the prices would be even higher. No wonder the common people called him Li Qian Dou.
At this point, Li Qing’an had no desire to keep browsing anymore. He said to Mingzhu, “Please go buy a birthday gift for Duoduo for me. I won’t go.”
He then said to Li Rong, “Stay with Mingzhu! I need to head to the court immediately.”
Mingzhu understood Li Qing’an’s feelings and nodded. “Brother-in-law, go back! I’ll buy something for Duoduo. I know what she likes. I’ll also ask around for the prices of some necessities and make a list for you.”
Seeing her understanding, Li Qing’an was pleased. He patted her hand and smiled, “Good! Thank you very much.”
After bidding them farewell, Li Qing’an mounted a horse and, accompanied by eighteen trusted guards, rushed toward Rehai Residence.
…
An hour later, at Li Qing’an’s request, an emergency meeting was held in the Government Hall. Nearly a hundred people gathered there, including the six prime ministers of the Government Hall and the five senior officials of the Secretariat, as well as deputy ministers and directors of various departments, chiefs and deputy chiefs of various supervisory agencies, the Censor-in-Chief, and others.

Yesterday, a new right prime minister was just elected here, and today another enlarged meeting was held. Aside from a very few prime ministers like Zhang Yun who had been informed in advance by Li Qingan, everyone else was confused. Discussions filled the meeting hall as people guessed whether Li Qingan intended to launch a full-scale war against An Lushan. It was quite possible—although Guo Ziyi had suffered a defeat, Li Guangbi’s army had entered Hebei, and it was said that An Lushan’s forage stores had been burned, causing heavy losses to his cavalry. This was an excellent opportunity to eliminate An Lushan.

At that moment, Li Qingan, along with Zhang Yun and Cui Ning, quickly entered the meeting hall through a side door. Li Qingan wasn’t wearing military uniform but a first-rank python-patterned robe with a gauze hat, matching the attire of the other ministers. Pei Min picked up a small iron hammer on the table and gently struck the bell, producing a clear “ding!” sound that immediately silenced the hall.

The meeting hall was shaped like a fan, with the ministers sitting back to back according to their rank. At the front were the six prime ministers of the Political Affairs Hall. Li Qingan stood at the very front, somewhat resembling a podium in later times. This was an ad hoc arrangement, as he had important matters to announce to everyone that day.

The hall was utterly quiet as Li Qingan stepped forward, glanced at the crowd, and slowly said, “This morning, I went to the Western Market. It was the first time I’d been there in over a year. The reason was simple—I wanted to buy a birthday gift for my daughter and decided to go myself. When I arrived at the rice shop in the Western Market, I learned some facts that I found hard to believe.”

Li Qingan raised a bag of rice high. “This is one dou of rice, enough for a family of five to eat for about eight days. Who can tell me how much this one dou of rice costs now?”

The ministers looked at each other. They all received stipended rice and usually didn’t buy it from the market. Then, Yan Zhenqing stood up and bowed, saying, “Two months ago, I asked my household servant, and it was about three hundred coins. I’m not sure now.”

“Vice Minister Yan is roughly correct. Two months ago, it indeed was three hundred coins.”

At that point, Li Qingan’s voice suddenly rose as he shouted, “But not now! It’s four hundred coins now—four hundred for one dou of rice. In a few days, the season for purchasing New Year goods will begin, and then one dou of rice will cost six hundred coins. At the beginning of the year, it was only eighty coins, but now the price of rice has skyrocketed. I wonder if any of the ministers here can no longer afford to eat.”

The hall was dead silent, extremely quiet. At that moment, everyone realized that Li Qing’an had called the meeting not to deal with An Lushan but to discuss rising prices. In fact, everyone knew that prices had risen sharply, but correspondingly, people had more money in their hands. With more money, prices naturally rose—this was quite normal. Ten days earlier, the government had held a meeting specifically to discuss raising salaries for officials and clerks, but no decision had been reached before Pei Zunqing was assassinated.

At that point, Yan Zhenqing stood up and said, “Your Highness! The rise in prices started mainly in April, when the court paid off all the back wages owed to officials in one lump sum, which led to a sharp increase in prices. But we believe this is only a contributing factor. The real reason is the large influx of silver from Anxi, coupled with the King of Wu’s control over the Jianghuai region, which halted grain transportation from the south. With more money and less goods, prices naturally soared…”

Yan Zhenqing spoke eloquently and incisively, hitting the core of the issue at every turn. Many were worried for him. Everyone knew that the large influx of silver from Anxi was the main cause, and the halt in grain transportation from the south was also related to Li Qing’an’s delay in dealing with the King of Wu. In a way, Li Qing’an was responsible, but no one dared to say so outright—yet Yan Zhenqing spoke his mind freely.

Towards the end, Yan Zhenqing said, “Shangshu Zhang and I submitted a joint memorial ten days ago, urging that the Constant Peace Granaries be opened before the New Year’s goods procurement to stabilize grain prices. Unfortunately, due to Prime Minister Pei’s assassination, this matter was delayed, and the government has yet to discuss it.”

Li Qing’an sighed and said, “It’s only today that I learned that the people of the Tang Dynasty call me Li QianDou. I’ve called an emergency meeting today, and I have three things to announce. First, open the Constant Peace Granaries immediately to stabilize grain prices. The Ministry of Finance must reduce grain prices to 100 wen within three days, with no upper limit on the amount of grain distributed. As for cracking down on speculators hoarding grain, that task falls to the Imperial Guards. Second, I suggest that the government appoint Cui Ning, the Vice Minister of Justice, as the Commissioner for Grain Transportation in Jianghuai and the Inspector of Eastern Jiangnan, giving him full authority over river transportation. Third, I will personally lead an army of 100,000 to attack Li Lin in Jiangnan and end the Jianghuai campaign before the start of spring tomorrow.”