In the administrative building of Xingqing Palace, Emperor Li Longji of the Tang Dynasty was furious. He had only been in Furong Garden for a few days when he received a memorial from Taiyuan Yin Pei Xingda, claiming that there was a severe drought in Hedong and requesting relief from the imperial court. (Note 1
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"Trash, a bunch of rubbish. Unexpectedly, I raised a bunch of rubbish!"
Li Longji grabbed a bunch of memorials on the imperial case and threw them towards the audience with all his strength.
"Your Majesty, calm down." Li Linfu picked up the scattered memorials and advised. "The drought in the east of the river has been long, and it is normal for famine to occur. As long as the court provides timely relief, the disaster will soon be over."
Li Longji sneered and said: "It's easy for the Prime Minister to say, disaster relief, what can I do with disaster relief! The Longyou War consumed Taicang's grain that had been stored for many years. Not long ago, I purchased a large amount of corn from the Guanlong clan at a fair price.
Calm down the food price in Chang'an. Now you ask me to tell me what to do to relieve the disaster!"
Li Linfu sighed softly and said: "Your Majesty, Hedong is the land of Longxing, and Jinyang City is my northern capital. If the imperial court does not provide relief to the victims in time, something may happen."
"Oh, Prime Minister, please tell me how I should provide relief. Could it be that we move the grain from the private warehouses in the palace to the east of the river, and let Pei Xingda open a warehouse to provide relief?" Li Longji gave Li Linfu a hard look, his tone full of anger.
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Li Linfu immediately fell to his knees and said, "I dare not, Your Majesty. I think the situation has not reached its worst yet. It is better to issue an order to Pei Xingda to open the granaries of Jinyang City and Hedong counties to stock up on grains for emergency needs."
"No!" Before he finished listening, Li Longji sternly stopped Li Linfu's suggestion: "Don't the Prime Minister know that Hedong Road is the important grain-producing area of the Tang Dynasty? Over the years, the salaries of officials in the court have been paid from Hedong Road.
The royal grain has been paid in advance. Now that the year is coming, if all the grain in the treasury is used to help the victims, then what will the civil and military officials of the Tang Dynasty do to eat!"
Li Linfu shook his head and said with a bitter smile: "Your Majesty, disaster relief is like putting out fires. The court officials can use cloth to replace the grain first, and wait until the grain from the Jianghuai River is transported to Chang'an next year before distributing it to the court officials."
Li Longji thought for a moment and waved his hands and said: "No, I am the emperor, how can I not even be able to afford a salary? If the barbarians listen, where will my reputation as Khan be?"
"Your Majesty!" Li Linfu bowed his hands to Li Longji and saluted: "Every official in the court has food stored in his or her home. I think it will not be a problem to hold on to next spring. But the rice jars of the people in Hedong Road have all reached the bottom.
If we don't provide relief, I'm afraid people will starve to death. Then the land will be full of hungry people, and the plague will spread!"
Li Linfu has served Li Longji for more than ten years, and he knows his master's psychology very well. Li Longji's biggest shortcoming is that he loves success and cares about face. If he doesn't explain the relationship between danger and danger to him, I'm afraid he won't agree to open a warehouse to provide relief to the victims.
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"This..." Li Longji finally hesitated. He was not very afraid of famine and famine. Throughout the Tang Dynasty, there would always be droughts in several places every year. If he was worried about every drought, this emperor would
There is no need to do anything. He might as well become a monk and become a monk. But this plague really worries him. There will be a great plague after a great disaster. If the epidemic is allowed to develop, the affected areas will not only be Hedong.
Already.
"Your Majesty, please think twice. Ordering Pei Xingda to open a warehouse to stock up on food will only hurt for a while, but if the disaster is allowed to develop, something may change!"
Li Linfu leaned down and bowed again, begging Li Longji for orders.
Li Longji thought of something, and smiled coldly and said: "Prime Minister, I suddenly remembered that Pei Xingda seems to be your disciple. Prime Minister insisted on begging me for permission to release grain. Is it because he wanted to fulfill Pei Xingda's good reputation for personal gain?"
"Your Majesty, I'm scared, I'm scared!" Li Linfu immediately knelt down and grabbed the ground with his head after hearing this. "My Lord, I'm devoted to the public, dedicated to Your Majesty and the court, and never have any selfish motives. Pei Xingda is indeed my disciple.
It’s just that I haven’t seen him for a long time. I’m doing this all for Your Majesty and the Tang Dynasty!”
Li Linfu's back was soaked, and he nodded and shouted.
After a long silence, Li Longji laughed.
"Haha, I see that the Prime Minister is nervous, I'm just making a joke with him." After saying that, Li Longji walked down the stage and came to Li Linfu's side, helped him up and said: "The Prime Minister is loyal to me, how could I not know that?
No need to be nervous, no need to be nervous.”
Li Longji turned around, paused, but his tone changed again.
"But, Pei Xingda failed to control Hedong, which resulted in famine. It is really not appropriate to come out to help the victims. After thinking about it, I feel that I should send an important official from the DPRK to Hedong to open a warehouse and release grain. In this way, this can reflect the importance I attach to the disaster.
, Secondly, we can also monitor Hedong to avoid officials withholding relief food."
Having served the Holy Emperor for more than ten years, Li Linfu naturally knew his character. His Majesty the Emperor was the most suspicious and never trusted one person to monopolize local affairs. The Pei family was originally from a prominent family in Hedong, and Pei Xingda had reached the high position of Taiyuan Yin. It was indeed inappropriate for him to continue
To be in the limelight. Otherwise, the people in Hedong may really reach the point where they only know about the Pei family and not the Tang Dynasty.
"Your Majesty is wise, the country is lucky, and the people of Hedong are lucky." Li Linfu let out a sigh of relief, and flattered Li Longji without leaving any trace.
"As for this candidate, does the Prime Minister have any suggestions?" Li Longji glanced at Li Linfu and said calmly.
"I don't dare. Your Majesty is wise and powerful, and he is capable of making decisions." At this juncture, Li Linfu did not want to ask for trouble. After all, Li Longji had a strong control over power and would never allow anyone to go against his will.
act.
"Yes." Li Longji nodded with satisfaction and said: "I think Yang Zhao, the censor Zhongcheng, is good at calculation and very loyal to me, so why not send him to Hedong."
"This..." Li Linfu really didn't expect that the person Li Longji was talking about would be Yang Zhao, and he was in trouble for a moment. Yang Zhao has now been promoted to Yushi Zhongcheng, and is only one step away from entering the political hall. If he does it again at this time,
Let him go to Hedong to rescue the victims and gain a lot of popularity, which will probably greatly increase the power of the Yang family in Beijing. (Note 2)
"What, does the Prime Minister think there is anything wrong with my arrangement?" Li Longji glanced at Li Linfu rather displeasedly, and his voice suddenly turned cold.
"I don't dare. I think Mr. Yang has both political integrity and talent, and is the perfect choice to go to Hedong to help the victims."
At this point, although Li Linfu was reluctant in every way, he had no choice but to recognize Yang Zhao's status as an envoy.
"Then let's draw up the decree." Li Longji waved his hand without any emotion and sat back at the imperial desk.
Yan Canmai, a member of Zhongshushe, then dipped his pen in ink and drafted the edict.
"There is a long drought in the east of Hedong. There is no rain from May to July of autumn. Yiyou, because of the drought, ordered the prime minister to be imprisoned in Taisi, prefecture and county records. The death penalty will be punished with a stick. Disciple, Liu, the following will be exempted. In addition, he will be granted the title of imperial concubine.
Shi Zhongcheng Yang Zhao is the economic envoy to Hedong and will go to Taiyuan Prefecture within three days to help the victims to show my heart." (Note 3)
After finishing the last word with his pen, Yan Canmai, a member of the Zhongshu House, handed it over to Li Longji for inspection. Li Longji scanned it once and confirmed that there were no mistakes, then nodded and said: "Let it be reviewed by the provincial department."
"Xiang Guo, I am also a little tired. Please step back first."
Li Longji felt a wave of fatigue coming over him, and waved his hand impatiently at Li Linfu.
"Your Majesty, please pay attention to the dragon body. I retire." Li Linfu saluted Li Longji again, sighed in his heart, bowed and tremblingly retreated from the Qinzheng Affairs Building.
Note 1: Taiyuan Yin: The administrative planning of the Tang Dynasty was really complex. In a word, the chief of Taiyuan Prefecture during the Kaiyuan Tianbao period was called Yin, and he stayed behind when the emperor was away.
Note 2: Only three provincial governors (Zhongshu Ling, Shizhong, and Shangshu Zuopushe) attended the political affairs hall meeting, and they were the prime ministers of the dynasty.
Note 3: Hedong Economic Envoy: This is another very empty official. It was first established in the surrounding important areas in the second year of Zhenguan of the Tang Dynasty (628). Later, it was mostly held concurrently by the Jiedushi Envoy and was mostly used for inspections.
ps: I wrote this edict, everyone can just read it and understand it...
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