He blinked and looked at Li Danqing in confusion. After a while, he showed a bitter smile and said immediately: "In this case, why does Prince Li have to go there? Or should I just say that the prince is going to rely on a few words?"
If you say so, we will cease our activities.”
Faced with the ridicule and dissatisfaction wrapped up in Chai Hongyun's words, Li Danqing shrugged his shoulders calmly, then stared at Chai Hongyun and said, "Yes, that's what I'm going to do."
Chai Hongyun was inevitably stunned again.
After all, he couldn't figure out whether the big man in front of him, whom he could only look up to in the past, had stayed away from the Yangchun water for too long, so he didn't understand what he was facing now.
Assess the seriousness of the matter.
But no matter which kind Li Danqing was, Chai Hongyun felt angry.
He hates the way officials talk from aloof, and hates their dirty deeds of talking about benevolence, righteousness, and morality, but disregarding the lives and deaths of ordinary people like them.
Obviously, in his mind at this moment, Li Danqing is also the same type of person.
"Then I'm afraid I will disappoint the Crown Prince... We have no way out. The Crown Prince can't let us deprive us of the right to fight for ourselves, right?" Chai Hongyun said at that time, with a fierce look on his eyebrows.
.
Li Danqing didn't seem to notice Chai Hongyun's angry face at this moment. He still stood there with a calm expression, and then asked a question that seemed a bit inappropriate: "By the way, what do you call your Excellency?"
Chai Hongyun gradually adapted to Prince Li's out-of-the-box thinking and his unique way of talking.
"My surname is Chai, my first name is Hongyun. I am a small person. You can call me whatever the prince wants." Chai Hongyun said this in an indifferent tone, with the chill of being someone who is thousands of miles away.
"I am older, so I will call you Brother Chai." Li Danqing said this, regardless of the disdain on Chai Hongyun's face at this moment, and continued to talk to himself: "Brother Chai said you
We have to enter the city, but Brother Chai, have you ever thought about why you enter the city?"
Li Danqing asked, looking at the people behind Chai Hongyun.
Look at the so-called weapons in their hands, including sticks, hoes, sickles, and pliers.
When I glanced at their figures, I saw that most of them had no cultivation base, and some were only low-level warriors of the Vajra realm.
It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a mob.
"An army of one hundred thousand, at most one hundred thousand, can kill you to pieces." Li Danqing added at this time.
Chai Hongyun's expression changed. He had some level of cultivation and understood the difference between real warriors and these ordinary people. Not to mention that these soldiers were well-trained and far from being organized in a hurry like refugees.
teams can be compared.
"So what! If a person doesn't fight for himself, will he wait to die?" Chai Hongyun said angrily.
Li Danqing asked: "Brother Chai, what do you think will happen if I let these people enter the city as you wish?"
Chai Hongyun was stunned when he heard this. He had not seriously thought about this issue.
He just thought that after entering the city, the people would have food to eat and survive, but he never thought about what would happen next.
So when Li Danqing asked this question, Chai Hongyun fell into deep thought.
And Li Danqing didn't seem to really intend to get the answer from his mouth. Without waiting for Chai Hongyun's response, he said at that time: "Millions of refugees entered the city hungry, but the court allocated money every day."
There is only a small amount of rice for disaster relief, not much, just less. You still can't fill your stomachs. But the city's wine shops are fragrant and the people are beautifully dressed. This scene will arouse the greed of the refugees and burn them.
Killing and looting are not inevitable."
"I know that you all hate the dignitaries in Wuyang City. You hate them for singing and dancing, but you can only feed yourself with tree roots. But most of the people in the city are actually ordinary people like you. The big shots are located in the inner city.
The city is high and the pond is deep. You cannot conquer it. Even if you are lucky enough to get in, there are some important people who don’t have private soldiers in their houses, or there are people with advanced cultivation who serve as guardians and guards.
People like myself."
"Is this...what you want to see?"
Li Danqing's question made Chai Hongyun fall into deep thought at that moment.
It was indeed difficult for him to refute the logic in Li Danqing's words, but at the same time he did not dare to accept the current situation.
"Of course, if I only tell you the consequences of entering the city but don't help you think of a way, that approach is no different from being a hooligan. So compared to entering the city, I have thought of another way out for Brother Chai and these people.
I just don’t know if Brother Chai is willing to listen.”
Chai Hongyun frowned. He still didn't want to believe that the noble young master in front of him was sincerely helping them. He had great doubts about this, but he had to admit that what Li Danqing analyzed made him not.
He hesitated for a while as to the reason for his objection. But after hesitating for a while, he still asked: "Tell me about it."
Li Danqing grinned at that time: "Enlist in the army."
…
In the Prime Minister's Palace, the officials from the three prefectures and nine divisions began to argue again.
Scenes like this have happened countless times since Concubine Ji took charge of the country.
But compared to every previous quarrel, this one was several times more intense than before.
the reason is simple.
Li Shizi really put down the riots of the people outside Wuyang City without even using a single soldier.
This is certainly a good thing.
Even Xiang Luowen and Lu Chenji, who wanted Li Danqing to make a fool of themselves, would not be dissatisfied at all because of this incident.
But the trouble is...
Prince Li’s way of quelling the riot is simply child’s play!
He recruited millions of refugees outside Wuyang City into the army!
The number of refugees is huge, reaching millions, but these millions include women, children, and the elderly. Apart from these, the remaining ones can be considered young and strong, but less than 300,000, and among them 100%
Sixty-year-olds don't even have the slightest bit of cultivation, which is not enough to form a fighting force.
It is indeed difficult for everyone to accept this method of appeasing the refugees.
Therefore, when Li Danqing strode back to the Xiangfeng Hall, Lu Chenji and Xiang Luowen looked at Concubine Ji on the stage at almost the same time and exclaimed: "Nonsense! This is simply nonsense!"
"This Li Danqing is really bold! I beg the eldest princess to issue an order to investigate and prosecute Li Danqing for dereliction of duty!"
Li Danqing, who had just walked into the main hall, naturally heard these words. He raised his brows, but before he could say anything, Mang Huan, who came with him, said first: "Your Highness, the eldest princess! Li Danqing is at the city gate.
He acted recklessly in the name of the eldest princess, and even admitted millions of refugees to join the army in the name of the imperial court! Such arrogant and domineering behavior is unheard of, and the eldest princess was aware of everything and dealt with Li Danqing strictly!"
"Are you guys annoyed? Why do you always complain every time I come here? The two palace masters didn't ask me to solve the refugee riots. Firstly, I didn't hurt those refugees. Secondly, I didn't hurt the refugees.
We did not let those refugees continue to cause trouble, maintained the stability of Wuyang City, and maintained the face of the court. Why, is there still something wrong with you doing this?" Li Danqing looked at the crowd with an aggrieved look and asked.
.
Concubine Ji frowned on the stage. Of course she wanted to believe Li Danqing, but what Li Danqing did this time was a little out of line.
She wanted to help, but the court's rice and grain were controlled by the Yuzhengsi and Wanshusi, and these two offices were close associates of the Crown Prince and the Second Prince respectively, so she had no way to get involved.
Recruiting those refugees into the army may temporarily appease them, but without rice, they will still have to starve and continue to cause trouble. The credibility of the court will also be greatly reduced. In this business of killing chickens to obtain eggs, Princess Ji does not know what to do.
How to defend Li Danqing.
"Prince Li's words are nice. If these can be regarded as solving the trouble, then where can there be any trouble in the world?" Lu Chenji on the side said coldly at that time.
Li Danqing rubbed his temples. It wasn't that he was in trouble, but he was tired of arguing with these bastards in the court every day.
But he still had to be patient and said: "The refugees have stopped making trouble. Doesn't this solve the problem?"
Xiang Luowen took over the conversation and said: "Your Majesty, are you really stupid or pretending to be stupid? Before you go, we told you that the imperial court has no surplus food. Now the food for 200,000 people per day is already the limit that the imperial court can provide. You
It doesn't matter if we recruit these people into the army or whatever, but where will their food rations come from in the future? If this matter is not resolved, will they rebel in the future?"
Li Danqing blinked, looked at Xiang Luowen with an expression as if he had just woken up from a dream, and said, "It turns out that Palace Master Lu and Palace Master Xiang are angry about this matter."
"That's easy to do!"
"Since the imperial court can only provide food rations for 200,000 people, then
kill!"
"If the million refugees are reduced to only 200,000, then everything will be fine!"
Xiang Luewen's face changed when he heard this: "What a treason! Those are the people of Wuyang, how can we have the right to kill them?"
"Doesn't it make sense?" Li Danqing raised his eyebrows after hearing this. His face that was still smiling a moment ago suddenly became clouded. He said sternly: "Since you also know that it doesn't make sense! Then why do you do it?"
There is food in the warehouse, but they are unwilling to open the warehouse to put food in! Why are they unwilling to help the victims!?"
"You say you can't kill, but all you can do is kill people. You want to starve millions of victims to death until only 200,000 are left. Will the disaster be alleviated soon? This is your method of disaster relief.
!”
"Compared to torturing them to death like this, I think my method is more merciful. I give them a good time and give you a good time too!"
"Look at the two palace masters, in order to find a high-sounding excuse for their ugly behavior, they must not have slept well these days, right? Their hair has turned a lot gray! This makes me feel very sad!"
"You two are the pillars of our Wuyang Dynasty. If you die so young, how can you continue to cause trouble to the people?"
Li Danqing's sarcasm is merciless and every word is heartbreaking.
The officials present were silent, and the faces of Lu Chenji and Xiang Luowen were ashen.
"Don't talk nonsense! The imperial court can only provide so much food. This is..." Xiang Luowen frowned and said.
"Fart!" Li Danqing was furious, thinking about the scene of people dying of hunger outside the city gate. At this moment, he interrupted Xiang Luowen's words angrily: "Then let the people from the Yuzhengsi and Wanshusi
Submit the accounts, I would like to check carefully and find out where my rice grain from Wuyang went!?"
These words hit the weakness of Xiang Luowen and others.
"Li Danqing! One code, one code! Stop messing around and talk about how you are going to resettle these millions of refugees. Where are you going to get their daily rice?" Xiang Luewen said hurriedly.
.
Upon seeing this, Li Danqing surprisingly did not bother with checking the inventory. Instead, he smiled and said: "These million people have been recruited by me. They are the main force of this western expedition against the Liao army. Since it is
The food and grass needed by my Wuyang soldiers and horses will naturally be borne by Longxiang Mansion!"
"Huh?" Lu Chenji looked strange when he heard this. After being stunned for a while, he said: "Li Danqing, are you confused? Most of the millions of refugees are women, children and the elderly, and almost none of them have any cultivation skills.
, relying on them, you want to conquer the Liao people, and you also want Longxiang Mansion to provide food and support? Are you talking nonsense? "
Li Danqing blinked his eyes, but said: "Because most of them are women, children and the elderly, the population looks like a million, but the food and grass they need is actually not much. According to the standards of the Forbidden Army in Wuyang City, the food rations for an army of up to 300,000 people are completely sufficient.
They're hungry."
"Nonsense!" Xiang Luowen said angrily when he heard this: "The 300,000 forbidden troops in Wuyang City are under the control of Longxiang Mansion. The rations of these 300,000 forbidden troops are given to refugees, so wouldn't the 300,000 forbidden troops not
I’m going to starve to death!”
"It's okay to disband." Li Danqing took over the conversation at this time and said very relaxedly.
"Disbanded? Those are the elites that the imperial court spent hundreds of thousands of years cultivating. If they are disbanded, who will defend Wuyang City when the Liao army attacks?" Xiang Luewen asked angrily.
"As an important minister of the imperial court, Palace Master Xiang, if you feel that the 300,000 forbidden troops cannot be disbanded, then you can find a way to raise food and grass yourself. Well... I will give Palace Master a clear path. Palace Master may go and check the jade."
How can there be any surplus food in the warehouses of the Chief Secretary and the Secretary of Wanshu?" Li Danqing said meaningfully.
Of course Xiang Luewen was not willing to give in. Those 300,000 imperial troops were his cronies, and he absolutely could not accept such a result.
"Why do millions of refugees compete with the elite of Wuyang Dynasty for food and grass? Isn't this putting the cart before the horse?" he asked angrily.
"No, no." But at this moment, a voice suddenly came from behind him.
Xiang Luowen, who heard the voice, looked back and saw that the person who spoke was actually Xiahou Boyang, the master of Longxiang Mansion who always liked to act according to the wind.
At this time, the master of the palace came forward with a smile on his face, bowed respectfully to Xiang Luowen, and then said: "These are not millions of refugees, but the ones collected by the prince."
New Army.”
"And they still have to send troops to the front line at any time."
"According to Wuyang's law, Longxiang Mansion must give priority to the supply of food and grass for the army to resist foreign enemies."