Yan Zhenqing is still dealing with the resettlement of victims in locust-stricken areas, but his preliminary report has been sent to the court.
The court had already reached a conclusion on how to deal with the locust plague, and Yan Zhenqing was no longer discussed at the court meeting. The report was only circulated in a small area in the Zhizheng Hall, and was soon sent to the desk of Prince Li Shi.
Emperor Li Yu has gradually delegated power, and he no longer needs to interfere with these matters. They will be signed directly by Prince Li Shi and take effect.
Yan Zhenqing's report mainly included a proposal to vigorously commend Fengzhou for its successful locust extermination. This required a vote from the Zhizheng Hall, so Li Shi came to the Zhizheng Hall and summoned the four prime ministers except Yan Zhenqing to discuss the matter.
"Two questions now!"
Li Shi pointed at the report and said to everyone: "The first question is whether to accept Yan Xiangguo's proposal, and the second question is, if the proposal is accepted, how much reward will the court need to give? Everyone, let's talk about it!"
Liu Yan raised his hand and said: "Let me say a few words first! In the eighth year of Tianbao, I experienced a locust plague in Huaibei. I have a deep understanding of the difficulty of exterminating and driving locusts. It is basically impossible to succeed. There are millions of locusts.
Locusts are coming in overwhelming numbers. Even if the entire county is mobilized to fight the locusts, in the end not even a single one of them can be wiped out. All we can do is watch the crops being eaten away. If we want to successfully drive away the locusts, we must prepare very meticulously and mobilize all the military and civilians.
Only by working together can we succeed, so Fengzhou can successfully drive away locusts, and I know very well the hardships behind them."
Han Huang also said: "What Liu Xiangguo said makes sense. Fengzhou not only succeeded in expelling locusts and saved a large area of fertile land, but also provided relief to victims of disasters in other states and counties, and solved the problems for the court. For this reason alone, I fully support Yan Xiangguo's proposal.
.”
Li Shi nodded and asked Cui Youfu and Chang Gun, "What are the opinions of the two prime ministers?"
Cui Youfu immediately expressed his stance, "I support it!"
Chang Gun was silent for a moment and said: "Four of the five prime ministers have expressed their support. What else can I say? I have no objection to this proposal."
In fact, it would be meaningless even if Chang Gun opposed it. This proposal was passed after Han Huang expressed his support.
Li Shi smiled and said: "Since we agree to commend Fengzhou, let's talk about the specific commendation plan. I personally recommend following the commendation plans for other disasters as a reference."
After a pause, Li Shi continued: In the second year of Tianbao, the Yellow River burst. The Bozhou government led tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians to fight for three days and three nights, and finally blocked the breach. At that time, the court commended Bozhou. I suggest that we refer to Bozhou's
Plan to commend Toyosu."
Li Shi's proposal received unanimous support from everyone. Since there is no objection to the decision to commend him, everyone must give the prince a face and let him make the final decision regarding the specific amount and method of commendation.
.........
After coming out of Zhongshu Province, Li Shi went directly to the imperial study room of Ziwei Palace. Yan Zhenqing submitted two copies of the letter. One was a proposal to commend Fengzhou for locust control, and the other was more important and suggested adding troops to Fengzhou.
The second memorial was not presented at the Zhizheng Hall. Li Shi had to present it to his father for a decision. After Yu Chaoen was annihilated, Emperor Li Yu took back the military power. Unless a large-scale war was launched, general troop mobilization would not be possible.
The decisions and deployments were made directly by the emperor and did not need to go through the political hall.
Yan Zhenqing's second suggestion, Li Shi obviously had to report to his father.
After waiting for a moment at the door of the imperial study, Li Shi followed the eunuch into the imperial study. In the imperial study, the emperor Li Yu was reading a memorial. When he saw the eldest son coming in, he smiled and said, "Is there anything you need to ask me for, your prince?"
"Reporting to my father, I just passed the proposal to commend Fengzhou for locust extermination at the Political Affairs Hall. I will write down a specific plan for my father's review."
Li Yu smiled lightly and said: "Commendation is necessary. Since the Zhizheng Hall has passed it, there is no need to show it to me anymore. Just execute it directly after you sign it!"
"My son, I obey!"
Li Shi bowed and saluted, and then continued: "The second thing is also Yan Xiangguo's proposal, but it must be approved by the Emperor Father and please see it!"
After saying that, he presented Yan Zhenqing's second memorial. Li Yu took the memorial and looked at it. He put it down and said: "Guo Song had already submitted the same memorial to increase troops before. This was actually Guo Song who persuaded Yan Zhenqing."
, Yan Zhenqing is helping him propose that it is not impossible to increase troops, but I need a sufficient reason. I have not approved it before because Guo Song's reasons are not sufficient. He wants to have enough troops to attack Xue Yantuo. I think this
The reason is not sufficient. Since Shuofang's army exists, why should we build another army to attack and destroy the Xue Yantuo people?"
Li Shi bowed and said: "Yan Xiangguo seems to have put forward more reasons in the memorial, and they are very convincing."
Li Yu continued to read the memorial carefully. In the memorial, Yan Zhenqing mentioned the 1,500 hectares of military land in Fengzhou and the thousands of miles of fertile fields in Fengzhou. It could be built into a granary, and the rations for the two armies in Hexi and Shuofang would be sufficient.
Toyosu provides it, but it is impossible to protect the Toyosu granary with an army of three thousand, so it is recommended to increase the garrison to more than 10,000 people, and at the same time protect docks, warehouses and other facilities outside the city.
Li Yu nodded, "This reason is quite convincing. If this is really the request, then I can consider adding more troops to Fengzhou. What do you think of the emperor?"
"My son..."
Li Shi hesitated and said, "My son is more supportive of Yan Xiangguo's suggestion."
"Okay! I will think about it carefully. In addition, this letter was written by Guo Song personally to me. I gave him this power. Take a look! His suggestion about forming an alliance with Tubo I think is very reasonable.
, We really cannot force Tubo to reconcile with Tuyuhun, and it is in the interests of the Tang Dynasty to encourage a war between them. After you read this letter, communicate with the Political Affairs Hall and make a decision as soon as possible."
"My son, I must go back and read it carefully!"
Li Shi took the report and bowed: "If my father has nothing else to do, I will resign."
"Go! I will come to a conclusion in the next two days on the matter of increasing troops in Fengzhou."
Li Shi retreated slowly, and Li Yu carefully read Yan Zhenqing's report again and fell into deep thought.
.........
After the autumn harvest, October soon entered. Although the sun was shining brightly during the day, the chill at night was very obvious, especially as the cold air from the northern grasslands continued to invade Fengzhou, and the late autumn season in Fengzhou was gradually coming to an end.
Fengzhou officials are still busy with resettling the victims. Victims from Shengzhou, Xiazhou, Yanzhou, Youzhou, and even Yan'an Prefecture, Suizhou and other places in Guanzhou also flocked to Fengzhou. There were nine batches of victims in total.
, plus the previous victims in Yulin County and the people who were unwilling to return to Hebin County, a total of nearly 30,000 victims poured into Fengzhou. In addition, tens of thousands of victims also poured into Lingzhou.
It was unrealistic to resettle all the victims in Jiuyuan County, so Guo Song resettled some of the victims in Feng'an County. Fengzhou established the first batch of 29 villages in the suburbs of Jiuyuan, and built a large number of mud and thatched houses.
Three or four houses, and then surrounding a large courtyard, a hundred households form a village.
The remaining people were temporarily settled in the city, and basic rations were distributed at the same time. Fengzhou provided two types of rations to the victims. One was called basic rations. Each person had one liter of wheat per day. After being ground into flour, it could only feed children and the elderly.
Adults can only live half full, and Fengzhou does not support lazy people. If you want to be full, you must receive a second portion of food, called work-relief rations, which are food rations exchanged for work-relief.
All young men over the age of seventeen and under forty participate in labor. There are three main types of labor, quarrying, logging and road construction. Local young men are gathered together for military training. They themselves are militia.
Soldiers, of course, should use their spare time to conduct military training.
Just half a month ago, Li Yu approved Fengzhou's request for additional troops, allowing Fengzhou to add 12,000 troops, of which 6,000 troops were drawn from Longyou, Hexi, and Shuofang armies, and the other 6,000 troops were only given to
Quota and equipment, while soldiers were recruited by Guo and Song Dynasty. This was also the practice since the mid-Tang Dynasty. The imperial court could only provide part of the soldiers, and the other part was called self-recruitment army. Fengzhou raised funds and food to recruit by itself.
In fact, this is a very dangerous approach. For example, An Lushan recruited a large number of self-recruited soldiers who were loyal to him before he finally rebelled.
There are also vassal towns in various places, which also have their own armies and are not under the jurisdiction of the imperial court.
However, Guo Song's self-recruited army is not the same thing as the vassal towns in various places. This is the quota given to him by the emperor, and the respective vassal towns do not have any quota at all, and they still recruit troops without authorization.
This morning, Guo Song arrived at Li Yan Village, located northeast of the county.
Li Yan Village is not a new name, but an old name from the past. This village produced a child prodigy named Li Yan during the Wu Zetian era, and received a commendation from Queen Wu Zetian, so the village was renamed Li Yan Village.
There are 97 households in Liyan Village. The villagers are mainly from Xiazhou and Shengzhou. They are disaster victims, but they have their own house in Fengzhou. Although it is a mud and thatched house, they can build it with stone walls and tiles after next spring.
house.
Amidst the barking of several dogs, Guo Song and his party walked into Li Yan Village.