There is a lot of information. How long does Cui Junsu plan to talk about it?
Many officials couldn't help but pick up their cups and prepare themselves mentally to listen to Cui Junsu's explanation for a long time.
"In the first year of Zhenguan, the food consumed by Chang'an City was 13 million dan."
Cui Junsu shocked many people when he mentioned 13 million. This added 10 million shi of grain, which was consumed out of thin air.
Cui Junsu continued to preach while slowly laying out the information: "In the second year of Zhenguan, from January to June, Chang'an City consumed 69 million shi of food."
Li Er was shocked when he heard this number. He knew the number for the first year of Zhenguan, but he didn't know the number for the second year of Zhenguan.
Many officials looked stunned.
The food consumption in the second year of Zhenguan was ten times that of the first year of Zhenguan and thirty times that of the ninth year of Wude.
Cui Junsu changed his subject: "This does not include what His Highness the King of Qin and the workshops in Chang'an consumed for industry. These are just what was eaten. If we include all the food consumption in Chang'an, plus the losses on the road, and the output
The amount of food accidentally wasted in Chang'an City in the first half of the year exceeded 100 million dan."
It's such a huge number, and many officials who don't care much about food consumption have surprised looks on their faces.
"I'm here to give you a detailed calculation." After Cui Junsu finished speaking, he asked for instructions from the Ministry of Revenue to come up with a few people to help. After getting Li Er's permission, more than a dozen people from the Ministry of Revenue came up at once and began to sit around the tables.
Cui Junsu divided the information into a station, and everyone also had an abacus.
"The first factor in this increase in consumption is that His Highness the King of Qin has made the people of Chang'an accustomed to eating hard food, and they can afford it."
This factor is reasonable. The difference in food consumption between dry rice and boiled soup is at least three times.
Of course, the people in Chang'an did more work and exerted enough effort.
"Xiu Chang'an Bashui, Bahui. His Highness the King of Qin consumed a total of eleven million shi of grain, including what the workers ate and what was paid as wages. After the Twelve Guards Standing Army System, the grain consumed
It’s eight million stones. Of course, these expenditures are all normal expenditures. I am just explaining the use of consumption.”
Cui Junsu is naturally not here to cause trouble.
"Another consumption is meat. Pigs, chickens, horses, and cows are raised around Chang'an City. Although there are leftover materials from the sugar production of the Ministry of War Workshop, there are no hard materials, at least horses and cows. The pigs have to grow.
To make fat, you still need to feed some delicious food, such as bean cakes after oil extraction. The remaining materials for making vermicelli, this alone, the consumption of Chang'an City is no less than 10 million shi. Half a year!" Cui Junsu specially reminded
half a year.
Some officials from poor families began to make a slight commotion.
Pigs, horses, cows, chickens, etc. alone consume more than three times the amount of food consumed in the Nine Years of Takeru.
"The current population of Chang'an City, excluding those under the name of the Qin Palace, is 650,000. There are still more than 200,000 merchants. Yaozhou, Chang'an County, and Huazhou combined have more than one million people.
The more people there are, the more food they eat, so porridge and rice will naturally consume more dry food.”
Cui Junsu turned another page, and immediately two officials from the household department quickly found some details from other detailed accounts and placed them in front of Cui Junsu.
"The Brocade Silk Chamber of Commerce consumes about three million shi of grain. Yunjin cannot be produced without starch, and starch is extracted from corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes, so it consumes grain. The papermaking workshop consumes about the same amount.
One million stone, plus the consumption of the linen and cotton industry and other commercial consumption, it is almost six million stone."
Mulberry trees are also planted for silk.
Consumption of some food for silk and paper is nothing, and officials are quite sensible.
"Everyone, if you have any questions to ask about details, I will answer them here. If you need any detailed accounts, our account department will start calculating them immediately!"
Li Yuanxing waved his hand: "This is the Ministry of Household's work report on grain. Let's step back for a moment. I just want you to know that Chang'an's grain consumption is huge. Now Chang'an's grain output, inventory, and consumption ratio are
How many?"
"The granary in Chang'an is full, enough for the entire Chang'an to consume for half a year. But this granary is an official granary, which is used by the Tang Dynasty for emergencies. Chang'an has His Highness the King of Qin's immortal grain, but the total output is only 70% of what was consumed in the first half of the year. Please give me a request.
Let me tell you from Sinong Temple. Sinong Temple issued an official document half a month ago, which warned of food dangers!"
After Cui Junsu finished speaking, he stepped aside.
The chief official of Sinong Temple came to the stage.
First he saluted Li Er and Li Yuanxing, then saluted all the officials, and then took out a small book from his arms.
"After the autumn harvest in Chang'an City, the total food supply will be about 45 million dan. The summer harvest is higher than the autumn harvest, but I predict that even a bumper harvest next summer will not exceed 40 million dan. The reason is that the construction of Chang'an City will
There are more squares and some fields are occupied. Because of the road construction, the fields are occupied. Because the people in Chang'an need to eat vegetables, the vegetable fields are expected to increase by 300,000 acres next year. I think that if all the food in Huazhou is handed over, it can alleviate the problem.
"Looking at Chang'an's food shortage next year, there won't be enough food in Chang'an."
A very straightforward and simple report.
After the chief official of Sinong Temple retired, Cui Junsu also stood aside.
"Transport food. Without food from Luoyang, Chang'an cannot sustain itself. We can't let the imperial brother take hundreds of officials to Luoyang for dinner, so..." Li Yuanxing turned around and said, "Shilang Yan of the Ministry of Industry, you will be the fourth-rank Shilang at the age of thirty.
, prove that you are talented enough. Come up and talk about your last letter about the Luoyang River!"
Yan Lide, the brother of Yan Liben, the painting sage of the Tang Dynasty, was also an outstanding talent.
"Your Highness, I am not good at words, and this is a sign of me!"
"Speak, as an important minister, you have to speak even if you don't know how to speak!" Li Er spoke. In Li Er's opinion, playing correct sentences is something that officials must know. You can research, write, and draw, and your engineering is first-rate.
But you won’t talk about how you explain the work to the officials below and how you arrange the tasks. You must explain it.
Li Er forced Yan Lide to sweat profusely.
A young man in his mid-twenties, a doctor from the Ministry of Water Resources under the Ministry of Works, made an exception and asked to speak on his behalf.
"No, he has to do it!" Li Er looked very unhappy. The officials of the Tang Dynasty could still be mute.
Li Yuanxing persuaded: "Brother Emperor, don't waste time for him in today's discussion. It's good if you can explain it clearly." Li Er's expression softened a little: "You must practice hard when you go back. If you still can't speak when discussing next time,
I will take heavy responsibility."
"Thank you, thank you, Your Majesty!" Yan Lide stepped back.
The person who took the stage was his younger brother, Yan Liben.
"It takes His Highness the King of Qin's big ship nine days to get from Yangzhou to Luokou, but it takes three days to cross Luokou. From Luokou to Chang'an, it only takes one day, or at most two days. Ships going upstream, especially grain ships, are heavy and generally
Most of the ships rely on manual labor, which can take up to nine months. There are three problems with this."
It was well said. Li Er nodded with satisfaction.
"The first place was in Huainan and Jiangnan. Rich households were responsible for leasing, but there were so many evaders that there was no necessary protection along the road. In the first year of Zhenguan, the loss of grain transport ships reached 25%, and six out of ten ships were sunk.
The boat sank in Luokou. So the second problem lies in Luokou. Luokou has a strong current and a large drop. Originally, there were many rocks on the bottom of the river. With more and more sunken ships, the water conditions have become extremely bad.
"
After Yan Liben finished speaking, he held the report of the Ministry of Industry's investigation in his hands: "This is the investigation of the situation in Luokou!"
An attendant took over the seal, and Yan Liben continued: "The third difficulty is that there is no dedicated management of river affairs. The Ministry of Industry is only responsible for the rivers, but the Ministry of Revenue is only responsible for loading the ships for transporting grain. When it comes to escorting people into the river, various places shirk each other.
, there is no one to save you when you are in trouble.”
"Big, bold!" Yan Lide was frightened and shouted from behind.
Li Er waved his hand: "That's all, I don't blame him this time. But this trend cannot last forever, and it is not advisable to make irresponsible remarks about government affairs. I don't block the way of speech, but I don't want anyone to find something for officials at all levels to do anything.
Accusation comes. Especially when there is no evidence, I think you are young, you played well in the first two days, and you will not be the same again!"
Yan Liben wanted to say something, but Yan Lide covered his mouth and pulled him down.
Li Er nodded to Li Yuanxing again. Li Yuanxing understood what Li Er meant. This guy was young and talked nonsense. With just a few words, he could offend the Ministry of Punishment, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Household Affairs, as well as state and county officials. He was really young.
Sensible.
"I would like to say a few words. There used to be a few boats on a river every day, but now there are dozens or hundreds. The sudden increase of so many boats naturally caught officials at all levels off guard. If you find problems, find them.
Then solve the problem. This is the way to be an official and a government official."
"His Royal Highness the King of Qin is wise!" Many officials shouted in unison.
Yan Liben was unconvinced. In his opinion, some officials were not fulfilling their responsibilities.
"This transportation capacity must be solved, otherwise Chang'an City will either be without food or salt. Of course not this year, but there is no guarantee that it will not be next year or the year after that. As I said, solve the problem as soon as it is discovered!"
"Your Highness is wise!" shouted again.
Li Yuanxing stretched out his hand and pressed it.
"Let's talk about agriculture before we talk about water. Lu Chengqing took over as Minister of Railways. Although he is young, he still has some talents. I will put some pressure on him. By the end of the year, Chang'an to Luoyang will be open to traffic, and basic facilities can be slowly built.
, but the railway must be opened and the train must run."
Gao Jian raised his hand and asked to speak. After receiving permission, he said: "Your Highness, may I ask, what is the daily capacity of this train?"
"In terms of design, it is three hundred miles per hour. Of course, the actual running may be slower due to too much cargo. But there is still no problem in going back and forth between Chang'an and Luoyang once a day. Each truck can pull three thousand tons of cargo, that is
Thirty thousand shi. With double rails, four cars can run on the road at the same time."
"Your Highness, it is impossible for these vehicles to transport all the grain. Your Majesty estimates that transporting two million dan of grain per month is the limit. Even if there is improvement, it will be difficult to transport more than 3 million dan of grain per month."
Li Yuanxing nodded, this is the truth.
"We still have to plan for the future."
"With railways, power will inevitably increase greatly. Some problems can always be solved." Gao Jian cannot say that railways are not good.
Li Yuanxing waved his hand: "This is a comprehensive and systematic problem. The railway will solve part of it first. This is another biggest problem that I want to solve."
The picture on the screen changed and it seemed to be a dam!