Chapter 195: Li Longji summoned

The news that Li Qing was promoted to the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue was extremely dull, as plain as the life of a couple who had been married for fifty years. On this day, officials did not talk about political affairs, talked about the romanticism, and talked about the market for marrying concubines. When the topic was slightly affected, it immediately turned around, just like a woman talking about weight.

The various ministries and temples of the Chaofang were also very quiet. The old officials were silent and mechanically dealing with the unchanging documents, forms, and registration of records every day. Yes, the old officials had to take some time to eliminate the ecstasy of Li Qing being dismissed. They needed to use silence to hide their loss, just like a listless man in the office early in the morning, who was obviously not sick, but had to make a cup of medicine to hide his physical and mental fatigue.

The Minister of Revenue was the fourth rank lower rank, two ranks lower than the governor of Shazhou from the third rank. The two were not comparable, just like the workshop director was promoted to the head of the finance section. Although the rank was reduced, his power was increased. However, it was not enough to be the Minister of Revenue. The Minister of Revenue was divided into most of the financial power. The Minister of Revenue was actually a false position and had to be sentenced to a real title, that is, to be in charge of specific affairs. The reason why Li Linfu called Li Qing in charge of the Tang Dynasty's money bag actually meant that Li Qing also served as the Doctor of the Duzhi at the same time. However, a small accident occurred during the appointment process. Li Qing was appointed on the 12th day of the first lunar month, but he did not officially take office until the 18th day of the first lunar month. There was a six-day gap between them. Generally speaking, this was to give the officials transferred some time to hand over old affairs and settle their families, but a few people knew that in these short six days, the political situation in the Tang Dynasty would be surging.

The sun was high, and the Zhuque Street suddenly became active. Countless porridge sanctuaries began to be set up again, boiling the already cooled porridge and recruiting beggars and poor people everywhere. It was too late to call the servants in the family to make guest appearances, dressed in fresh clothes and carrying small porcelain bowls. A group of white and fat people lined up to receive the porridge, as if it was not the porridge sanctuary, but the stage, with shameless and obvious ugly dramas. An hour later, Li Longji, who had returned from Huaqing Pool, rumbled past the porridge shed, and the comedy on the stage also reached a climax.

At noon, the first cabinet meeting in the fifth year of Tianbao was held at the Political Affairs Hall of Xingqing Palace. At the meeting, Li Longji officially appointed Dong Yanguang as the deputy envoy of Longyou Jiedu, and Wang was rarely appointed as the deputy envoy of Hexi Jiedu. Then the Helong Censor transferred Dong Yanguang and Wang's rare joint impeachment letter to impeach Huangfu Weiming in Hexi. Longyou private equity new army was furious. Li Longji ordered the Helong Censor to conduct a thorough investigation and temporarily dismiss Huangfu Weiming's position. In addition, Meng Lingcha, the escort of Anxi Protectorate, was transferred to the deputy escort of Andong Protectorate, and ordered Yongwang Li Lin to take over the large escort of Anxi Protectorate.

After lunch at Xingqing Palace, the important officials who attended the meeting returned to the imperial city. Li Longji still reviewed memorials in the imperial study. After his sixties, his energy was not as good as before. He had to rest for almost one or two hours. At the beginning of each year, Li Longji's busiest moment was the busiest moment for major personnel arrangements, discussing fiscal revenue and expenditure, meeting foreign countries that were pilgrimage, and listening to foreign ministers' reports. Although he did not care about specific government affairs, he decided the general outline of the country's operation.

At this moment, he stood in front of the window and looked into the distant south, frowned, his eyes full of worry. On his imperial case, there was an urgent report that had just been sent from 800 miles in Yunnan. Civil war broke out in Nanzhao. Yu Chengjie led his army to fight westward, but was attacked by Lunqili Xu, a military envoy of Tubo Shenchuan, in Zhongdian area. Nanzhao's army was defeated. Yu Chengjie was seriously injured and died. Feng Jiayi, on the west, officially accepted the Tubo enthronement and was granted the title of "Zanpu Zhong" (meaning Zanpu's younger brother). There was also internal conflict in Taihe City in Nanzhao. The third and fourth sons of Piluoge fought for the position of King of Nanzhao, and turned against each other. The situation in Nanzhao was in danger.

Li Longji was not worried about the civil strife in Nanzhao, but about the intervention of Tubo. His intention was already very obvious, which was to support Feng Jiayi in the west to unify Nanzhao and place Nanzhao in its sphere of influence. In this way, Jiannan Road would be in danger.

At this time, Gao Lishi's voice came from outside: "Master, Li Qing is here."

Li Longji was excited and his brows were slightly relaxed, "Let him in!"

The Nanzhao split was facilitated by Li Qing, and he had a say in this matter. Li Longji was eager to hear his suggestions.

Li Qing strode in and walked in front of him. He leaned over and knelt down, "I bow to His Majesty the Emperor!"

"Your dear, please do not give me a gift!"

Li Longji quickly helped him up and looked at him carefully. Seeing that his beard had appeared under his jaw, he couldn't help but smile and said, "I've been separated from you for half a year! I'm almost gone. I heard that you are a father, but have you named my mother?"

Li Qing hesitated for a moment and said calmly: "I named her Tingyue, and her nickname is 'Gao Gao'."

‘Gaogao’, Li Longji laughed in silence, “It’s an interesting name.”

He patted Li Qing on the shoulder and laughed: "Hurry up and work hard! I will give him the Yunqiwei if I give birth to a son."

"I thank Your Majesty first!"

Li Longji nodded, ordered him to sit down, pondered for a moment and handed over the urgent report from Yunnan to Li Qing, "What happened to Nanzhao again, I always distracted me!"

After reading the urgent report silently, Li Qing, when he sent Wu Xingsu to Nanzhao to pick up Awan, he guessed that the situation in Nanzhao would develop in this way. The key is that Tubo, Fengjia's alien soldiers were slightly weak, and it was already good to be able to protect themselves, and he was unable to backfire. However, if Tubo sent troops to help, it would be another matter.

The situation can no longer be hesitant. If Feng Jiayi seized the opportunity of internal strife between the two uncles, Nanzhao would most likely return to the original track of history, and his efforts would also be lost.

"Your Majesty, in this extraordinary period, you must do extraordinary things and no longer consider the national borders of Tang Zhao. I suggest that you immediately order the governor of Kunzhou Zhang Qiantuo and the governor of Yaozhou Li Mi to divide the troops into two groups to quickly control the key passes of Nanzhao, especially Yongchang, Tieqiao and Langqiong. We must use heavy troops to defend to prevent Feng Jiayi from taking advantage of the opportunity to advance eastward. Then, the governor of Rongzhou Xianyu Zhongtong will send troops westward to threaten the Tubo rear route so that it dare not act without action. At the same time, another person will be sent to Nanzhao to mediate internal strife and let Nanzhao stabilize as soon as possible. With such a multi-pronged approach, I think it should be able to alleviate the immediate danger."

"My dear advice is consistent with what I want, and I will follow my words!"

Li Longji took two steps, then suddenly turned around and asked, "Then do you think it's better to send to mediate in Nanzhao?"

Li Qingzai had a treacherous case, and he smiled slightly and said, "This must be sent by the Censorate. It is not only mediated, but also supervised the military discipline of the three governors. It is most suitable for me to recommend the Censor General Wang Gong to go there."

Wang Gong was Li Linfu's vanguard, cruel, capable and capable. If he could be transferred at this time, it would undoubtedly be a break from Li Linfu's arm.

Li Longji stared at Li Qing for a long time and suddenly asked, "Have Zhang Qiu told you all?"

Li Qing rushed forward and knelt down and said, "The envoy is the minister's mentor. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have the chance to serve the emperor."

"You are pretty good at talking."

Li Longji smiled faintly, "Well, if you follow you again, I will send Wang Gong to Nanzhao to mediate. Get up! I have other things to tell you."

The spring drizzled for days and the air became very humid and cold. Li Longji's legs were rheumatoid, and he was most afraid of the cold and humid weather. Therefore, his imperial study was baked to a particularly warm feeling, and Li Qing's cheeks became red and hot. He was speechless, waiting for Li Longji's question.

Li Longji walked slowly around the room with his hands on his back. As an emperor, he should be good at controlling the atmosphere of conversation and guiding his ministers to move closer to his thoughts. He was waiting for Li Qing's thoughts to jump out of Nanzhao and then continue to talk to him.

"Do you know why I want to give you the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue?"

Li Qing shook his head, "I have always thought that I am not even a juren in terms of essay talent; in terms of military merits, I can't even be a good minister; in terms of family background, I am just a small businessman, and my wife is also a poor man; in terms of age, I am not yet thirty years old, let alone qualifications, so I don't know why the emperor wants me to be the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue."

"You mean I am stupid and abused my talent, right?"

Li Longji sneered, and Fang slowly said, "Your old man has sent someone to check. You were a Taoist priest from You Fang, and you didn't even have a household registration. You have also been to the county prison and set up an ice water stall. As for Langzhong and Chengdu, I won't mention it. I know all of these, but I still appointed you as the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. Why? What I like is your ability and vision. In just a few years, a small businessman has gone through a path that others can't even go for twenty years. Li Qing, you dare to poison the King of Nanzhao to death and kill Tubo Zanpu. This kind of courage is definitely not something that ordinary people can do, so I dare to use you as the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue."

Li Qing did not respond, but he still listened silently. Li Longji's words should have not finished speaking. Seeing that Li Qing did not interrupt his thoughts eagerly, Li Longji could not help but nodded secretly. It seemed that he had fully understood his words. He was happy to talk to such a smart person.

"The fiscal revenue and expenditure in the fourth year of Tianbao have roughly been released. The money has been collected 2.2 million guan, but the expenditure is 3.4 million guan and more than 25 million guan. However, the national military rations, official materials, postage and postage costs are used up by 10 million guan. There are disaster relief, road consumption, local expenses, royal expenses, palace expenses, etc., at least 30 million guan is barely enough. There are more than 27 million pieces of cloth and silk, which is far from enough. This family is difficult to be a family!"

Li Longji sighed long, "I wanted to completely reform the general system in the 25th year of Kaiyuan, but there was not enough money and food; I wanted to cut taxes and cultivate my health and live, but I still didn't have enough spare money to adjust. Seeing that the problem is getting worse and worse, I am anxious, so I'm so anxious this time that I'm going to help him, hoping that you can help me solve my worries and alleviate the current financial crisis."

Speaking of this, he stared at Li Qing tightly and said, "I think you must have considered these issues when you were in Shazhou. Why not tell me your ideas?"

"I've considered it, but it's far from mature."

Li Qing thought for a while and said, "I also understand a little finance. It is nothing more than four words: "increase revenue and reduce expenditure". It is simple, but it is not easy to do it. Reduce expenditure will inevitably infringe on the interests of some people, and obstruction and destruction is indispensable. If you think of a hundred excuses but reduce them, they will inevitably find 101 reasons to resist. And opening up the source is even more difficult. Not to mention interest groups, even local offenses will also make you formulate laws in a formal way. I think it is not difficult to find a good solution. The difficult thing is to implement it. It cannot be too radical or too slow. We must take into account all aspects of interests. So in the end, it is still a human problem."

Li Longji nodded, "Of course I know it's very difficult, otherwise I won't use you anymore. Then you can tell me! If you were asked to be in charge of fiscal and tax reform, what would you want?"

Li Qing said without any ambiguity: "I need two things. First, time, and the fiscal and tax reform will take at least three or five years, otherwise the effect will not be seen. The second is a knife. I hope that your Majesty can give the emperor's sword to the emperor when necessary, and I may have to kill someone to establish my authority."

"Time and the knife." Li Longji said to himself. He smiled and said, "The two things you want are not simple! You can give them to you, but you have to come up with a plan for me. You have to convince me first before I will let you do it!"
Chapter completed!