Chapter 33 God Bless the Tang Dynasty [Please recommend and vote monthly]
"What to do?!"
"You ask me, who am I asking?"
Li Shimin was furious. He slapped the case and said: "Shandong is such a disaster. Why do we only know about it now?!"
thump!
At this time, Fang Xuanling knelt down. He held the position of Minister of Household Affairs and was responsible for this.
He quickly said: "Your Majesty, please calm down. The Shandong government concealed the report, and even the old ministers didn't know."
Wei Zheng said: "Your Majesty, the most urgent task is to know how many state governments have concealed their reports."
All the ministers nodded.
Li Shimin said angrily: "Tomorrow I want to know all the concealed information. I don't care what methods you use or what your business is. I must come up with a countermeasure tomorrow."
Wei Zheng, Fang Xuanling and others wanted to speak.
Li Shimin stretched out his hand to stop them, then stood up and left alone.
Back in the room, Li Shimin angrily threw the table and stools.
The eunuchs and maidservants all knelt on the ground and did not dare to say a word.
It was the old eunuch Wuji who went to invite the queen and the situation calmed down a bit.
The queen said: "Erlang, why are you so angry?"
Li Shimin said: "Shandong has lost its harvest, thousands of miles away from starvation, and 180,000 victims are on their way to Chang'an. There are so many state capitals like this. How can I not be angry?"
The Queen said: "Didn't Erlang go to Hualong Temple? What does the Heavenly Master say?"
When Su Chen was mentioned, Li Shimin's expression softened a lot, and there was even a hint of smile.
"Before I went, I somewhat doubted the Celestial Master's ability. After I left, I blamed myself extremely. The Celestial Master is really a god."
The Queen had experienced Su Chen's prowess, so she smiled and said: "That's natural. He is an outsider who knows the world. Not only can he do calculations, but he also knows a little bit about some strategies for governing the country."
Li Shimin said: "Know a thing or two? Guanyin, it seems that you still don't understand the Heavenly Master. He is simply a capable person in governing the world."
The queen was stunned and confused.
Li Shimin recounted everything that happened at Hualong Temple and what Su Chen said.
"What?!"
The queen was completely stunned and confused.
She exclaimed in surprise: "In promoting the imperial examination, we pay attention to poor families; using work as a relief means a win-win situation for the people; aristocratic families hold grain, which can be bought or seized."
The queen immediately straightened her clothes and knelt on the ground, filled with joy.
"Congratulations to Your Majesty, you have obtained three good strategies for governing the world, and our Tang Dynasty has prospered!"
Li Shimin was also very excited. He helped the queen up and said with a smile: "I originally wanted to persuade the Heavenly Master to give some rice seeds. However, I didn't expect that I could get three good strategies. God is really helping me!"
The queen congratulated her again.
Li Shimin added: "That's not all. Haha, I originally wanted to plant a few kilograms of rice seeds for trial planting. Unexpectedly, the Heavenly Master actually gave me ten thousand kilograms of immortal rice, which was planted in several prefectures at the same time."
He was trembling with excitement, "The yield per mu is ten thousand catties, and nine crops are harvested in a year. My dear Guanyin, can you believe it? In less than a year, my granary will not be able to hold it."
The queen was also confused.
She looked stunned and in disbelief.
It was thought that the immortal rice with a yield of 10,000 kilograms per acre would be ripe in one year, or even once in three years. This would be a huge joy for the Tang Dynasty.
Unexpectedly, it turned out to be nine times a year.
This was an unparalleled blessing for Datang.
The queen burst into tears excitedly, "Erlang, God has really blessed us in the Tang Dynasty. The Heavenly Master is such a capable person. Please give Erlang a generous reward."
Li Shimin said: "That's natural, but I don't know what kind of reward is appropriate. After all, he is a foreigner, and I'm afraid he doesn't care about fame and fortune."
His eyes flickered and he said: "Actually, I hope to marry Changle to him, but Changle is obviously not worthy of him, and he is a foreigner. I am afraid that this move will anger him."
The Queen nodded repeatedly, "Changle was previously promised by Your Majesty to marry into the eldest grandson's family. After breaking off the engagement, it would be inappropriate for him to marry the Celestial Master again."
She was thinking with her eyes, choosing a candidate among her daughters, but no one was suitable, which made her a little upset!
Li Shimin said: "Guanyin Maid, please think carefully about how to reward me. I will first deal with the concealment of reports by the various states."
The next day.
Li Shimin presided over the court, and the officials seemed to have known about the major events that had happened, and many officials were trembling.
When Li Shimin sat on the dragon throne, a dozen officials immediately came out and knelt on the ground.
"Why are you kneeling on the ground?" Li Shimin said expressionlessly.
The dozen or so ministers kowtowed as if they were pounding garlic.
"Your Majesty, our inability to govern has caused famine in Shandong Prefecture and countless people have died of hunger. Please punish us."
Li Shimin said angrily: "Okay, I will help you. Come, drag them down and execute them."
More than a dozen ministers were horrified and kowtowed quickly to beg for mercy.
However, they were still dragged down mercilessly, and no one among the officials dared to come forward to intercede on their behalf.
Everyone knows that the emperor is angry, and this matter is obviously a matter of anger and resentment. Anyone who dares to plead for mercy will not be beaten to death by the emperor, but will also be scolded to death by the people.
Li Shimin asked: "Prime Minister, do all the affected state capitals know about it?"
Fang Xuanling hurriedly came out of the queue and said: "Your Majesty, I have roughly calculated that there are 12 states and 36 prefectures suffering from severe famine. Except for the Jiangnan and Guangdong and Guangxi regions, there are large and small disasters."
thump!
Fang Xuanling suddenly knelt on the ground and said: "Your Majesty, in this disaster, it is estimated that more than 200,000 people will starve to death, and more than 10 million people will be implicated."
The officials were in an uproar.
Li Shimin's eyes were also red, he clenched his fists and was furious.
Fortunately, he thought of Su Chen and the 10,000 kilograms of fairy rice seeds, and he felt relieved again.
"The Heavenly Master is really a man of God. What he said is true. The world is really in a state of devastation. I actually thought that the country was peaceful and the people were safe."
"Fortunately, with the fairy rice seeds donated by the Heavenly Master, my Tang Dynasty is still protected by God."
The ministers reported some things one after another, which were the situation of disasters in various places.
Li Shimin said: "Do you have any good ideas?"
These words were spoken to the three princes and the ministers of various ministries. They were all left in the Zichen Hall last night and did not return all night.
Wei Zheng said: "Your Majesty, we need to open a warehouse to store grain."
Fang Xuanling was shocked and said quickly: "The Ministry of Revenue supports the front line in fighting the Turks, and there is no more food left."
Wei Zheng said: "Are we just going to watch the people starve to death?"
Fang Xuanling shook her head helplessly, unable to answer.
When the ministers were arguing, Changsun Wuji suddenly said: "Your Majesty, I suggest that all major families donate food to stabilize the current situation and wait for next year's harvest, and the chaos will be resolved naturally."
The officials were in an uproar. They were all representatives of major aristocratic families.
Naturally, they were opposed to this in their hearts, but since Changsun Wuji was the representative of the family, they had nothing to say since he suggested this.
But someone has decided to donate a small amount at most, and let the wealthy squires and ordinary people with food rations donate more.
Li Shimin said: "Master Prime Minister, how much do you think the family should donate?"
Changsun Wuji said: "The old minister took the lead and donated 30,000 dans of rice, plus 10,000 taels of silver."
Wow!
The crowd was in an uproar again.
The ministers looked at each other, feeling a little at a loss for a moment.
Even Li Shimin didn't expect that Changsun Wuji would be so generous.
Thirty thousand dans of rice was enough to feed an army of 10,000 people for three months, but it was still not enough for tens of millions of victims.
Fortunately, with Changsun Wuji as the starting point, all the ministers started to donate.
But the donations became less and less. In the end, Li Shimin asked someone to count and found that there were only 360,000 dans of grain and 80,000 taels of silver.
He almost died of anger!
This small amount of food and silver is not even enough to feed tens of millions of victims for one day!
The stingy family made Li Shimin extremely angry.
He thought of Su Chen's suggestion and thought to himself: "It seems that what the Heavenly Master said is true. He really wants to establish a new branch of society and lift up a poor family and disintegrate the family."
"However, it is not possible now. We must stabilize the current situation."
Li Shimin took a deep breath and said, "I want to buy grain from aristocratic families. What do you all think?"
The eyes of all the ministers lit up.
Buying grain is exactly what you want!
They can sell it at a high price and make a lot of money from this disaster!
All the ministers echoed and expressed their approval.
Li Shimin added: "However, I am afraid that the aristocratic family will raise the price, so I decided to let Lu Guogong and Chen Guogong lead a team to patrol the world. If any aristocratic family dares to raise the price, they will be killed without mercy."
The ministers were horrified and shocked.
Li Shimin was afraid of pushing them into a hurry, so he added: "As long as we let the people survive this winter, we will talk about the next year."
The ministers looked at each other and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Our emperor has given in. Even if he suppresses food prices for a few months and stabilizes the situation, if he raises prices next year, he can only turn a blind eye!
Many people smiled and nodded in support.
In any case, this disaster may not be over until next autumn. There is still more than half of next year to make money. This year, it is enough to prevent the victims from starving to death.
Therefore, the ministers seconded the proposal.
Only wise people like Changsun Wuji were a little confused.
Li Shimin is not a person who compromises, so why would he propose this?!
Changsun Wuji said: "Your Majesty, how will the victims be resettled and what will be their livelihood next year?!"
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