In the main building of the Xingqing Palace, Emperor Li Longji of the Tang Dynasty was furious. Before he had been to Furong Garden, he received a memorial from Taiyuan Yin Pei Xingda, claiming that Hedong was severely drought and requesting relief from the court. (Note 1
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"Waste, a bunch of waste. I didn't expect that I would raise a bunch of waste!"
Li Longji grabbed a bunch of memorials from the imperial case and threw them hard at the bottom of the stage.
"Your Majesty calmed down." Li Linfu picked up the scattered memorial and advised. "It is normal for Hedong to have a long drought and famine to occur. As long as the court provides timely disaster relief, the disaster will be cured soon."
Li Longji sneered: "The prime minister said it is easy, disaster relief, what should I use to provide disaster relief? The Longyou war consumed the food stored in Taicang for many years. A few days ago, I purchased a large amount of corn from the Guanlong tribe at a moderate price.
Calculate the food price in Chang'an. You call me now, what should I do to provide disaster relief!"
Li Linfu sighed lightly and said, "Your Majesty, Hedong is the place where Longxing is located, and Jinyang City is the northern capital of our country. If the court does not provide timely relief to the victims, there may be changes."
"Oh, the prime minister said, how should I provide disaster relief? Could it be that the food from this private treasury is transported to Hedong and Pei Xingda will open a warehouse to provide relief?" Li Longji grabbed Li Linfu hard, his tone was full of anger.
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Li Linfu immediately knelt down on the ground: "I dare not, Your Majesty, the old minister thinks that the matter has not reached the worst level. It is better to issue an order for Pei Xingda to open the granaries of Jinyang City and Hedong prefectures and counties to release grain for emergency needs."
"No!" Before he finished listening, Li Longji shouted at Li Linfu's suggestion: "Don't the Prime Minister know that Hedong Road is a heavy grain production area for my Tang Dynasty? The food and salary of officials in the court over the years were paid by Hedong Road.
The imperial grain is being paid in advance, and now it is almost age. If all the grain in the treasury is used to provide relief to the victims, then what will the civil and military officials of my Tang Dynasty eat at that time!"
Li Linfu shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Your Majesty, disaster relief is like putting out fires now. For the officials of the court, they can use cloth to replace food first, and wait until the food from Jianghuai is transported to Chang'an in the coming year before distributing it to court officials."
Li Longji thought for a moment and waved his hand and said, "No, I am the emperor, how can I not even afford my salary? If I ask the barbarians to listen, where can I put my reputation of the Khan of Heaven?"
"Your Majesty!" Li Linfu bowed to Li Longji and bowed: "There are still food reserves in the homes of all the officials in the court, so it will be no problem to persevere until the spring of the next year. But the rice jars of the people of Hedongdao have all been found in the bottom.
If there is no relief, I may starve people to death. Then the ground will be full of starvation, and I am afraid that the plague will spread!"
Li Linfu has served Li Longji for more than ten years and is very clear about the master's psychology. Li Longji's biggest disadvantage is that he is very happy with merit and pity for face. If he doesn't talk about the harm, he will be afraid that he will not agree to open a warehouse to provide relief to the disaster-stricken people.
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"This..." Li Longji finally fell into hesitation. He was not afraid of famine. In the land of the Tang Dynasty, there are always droughts in several places every year. If there is a drought, he will be worried once every time. This emperor
No need to do it anymore, just become a monk and become a monk, and he will have some leisure time. However, this plague really made him worried. There will be a major epidemic after the disaster. If the epidemic is allowed to develop, the disaster will not only be the land of Hedong.
It's right.
"Your Majesty, please think twice. It will be a pain for Pei Xingda to open the warehouse and release grain for a while, but if the disaster is allowed to develop, there may be any changes!"
Li Linfu leaned over and bowed again, begging Li Longji to order.
Li Longji remembered something and smiled coldly, "Prime Minister, I suddenly remembered that Pei Xingda seemed to be your disciple. The Prime Minister insisted on begging me to allow food. Could it be that it is to fulfill Pei Xingda's kind reputation for being kind and kind?"
"Your Majesty, the old minister is frightened, the old minister is frightened!" Li Linfu immediately knelt down on the ground and robbed the land with his head. "The old minister is devoted to the public, devoted himself to Your Majesty and the court, and has never had any selfishness. Pei Xingda is indeed a disciple of the old minister.
But the old minister has not met him for a long time. I did this for Your Majesty and for the Tang Dynasty!”
Li Linfu's back was already wet, and he nodded and shouted.
After being silent for a long time, Li Longji laughed.
"Haha, look at the prime minister who is nervous. I'm just making a joke with the prime minister." After saying that, Li Longji walked down from the imperial platform and came to Li Linfu's side, helping him up and said, "The prime minister is loyal to me, so why don't I know?
No need to be nervous, no need to be nervous.”
Li Longji turned around, paused, but changed his tone again.
"But, Pei Xingda was useless in the control of Hedong, which led to famine. It is really not appropriate to come forward to provide relief to the victims. After thinking about it, I felt that a senior official from the court should be sent to Hedong to open a warehouse and release grain. First of all, this can reflect my importance to the disaster situation
, Secondly, we can also supervise Hedong to avoid the situation where officials deduct relief food."
Li Linfu naturally knew his character after serving this Emperor Ming for more than ten years. His Majesty the Emperor was the most suspicious and never felt at ease to take charge of local affairs alone. The Pei family was originally a prominent family in Hedong, and Pei Xingda reached the high position of Taiyuan Yin, so it was indeed not appropriate to be
Let's make a name for themselves. Otherwise, the people of Hedong would have really reached the point where they only knew that there was the Pei family, but not the Tang Dynasty.
"Your Majesty is wise, the country is fortunate, and the people of Hedong are fortunate." Li Linfu breathed a sigh of relief and flattered Li Longji without any trace.
"As for this candidate, does the Prime Minister have any proposal?" Li Longji glanced at Li Linfu and said lightly.
"I dare not, Your Majesty is wise and powerful, and he can make arbitrary decisions." At this critical moment, Li Linfu did not want to make trouble for himself. After all, Li Longji had a strong desire to control power and would never allow anyone to act against his will.
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"Yeah." Li Longji nodded with satisfaction and said, "I think the Chief Censor Yang Zhao is good at calculating and is quite loyal to me. Why not send him to Hedong?"
"This..." Li Linfu really didn't expect that the person Li Longji said would be Yang Zhao, and he was in trouble for a moment. Yang Zhao has now been promoted to the Chief Censor and is only one step away from entering the Political Affairs Hall. If he were to go back at this time,
If he was asked to go to Hedong to provide relief to the victims and gain a lot of people's expectations, it would probably greatly encourage the Yang family's power in Beijing. (Note 2)
"What, does the Prime Minister think that my arrangements are inappropriate?" Li Longji glanced at Li Linfu in displeasure, and his voice suddenly became cold.
"I dare not. I think Mr. Yang is both virtuous and capable, and is the only candidate to go to Hedong to provide relief to the victims."
At this point, although Li Linfu was reluctant, he had no choice but to recognize Yang Zhao's status as an envoy.
"Then let's draw an order." Li Longji waved his hand without any emotion and sat back on the imperial case.
Yan Canmeng, the secretary of the Secretariat, then picked up his pen and dipped it ink and drafted an edict.
"Hedong has been drought for a long time now, from May to July of autumn. Yiyou, he ordered the prime minister, temple, prefecture and county to be imprisoned. He was punished for death, and was punished for death, and was given a special exemption. He was also granted the imperial examination.
As the Chief of the Shi Zhongcheng Yang Zhao, he went to Taiyuan Prefecture to provide relief to the victims within three days to express his heart." (Note 3)
After picking up the last word, the Secretary of the State Councilor Yan Canmai handed it over to Li Longji. Li Longji scanned it and confirmed that there was no problem. Then he nodded and said, "Leave it to the Ministry of Education for review."
"Prime Minister, I am a little tired, so you can retreat first."
Li Longji felt a wave of fatigue coming and waved his hand at Li Linfu impatiently.
"Please pay attention to the dragon body, and the old minister will leave." Li Linfu bowed to Li Longji again, sighed in his heart, bowed and retreated from the Qinzheng Affairs Building tremblingly.
Note 1: Taiyuan Yin: The administrative planning of the Tang Dynasty was really complicated. In a word, the chief of Taiyuan Prefecture during the Kaiyuan Tianbao period was called Yin, and he was left behind when the emperor was not there.
Note 2: Only the three provincial governors (Zhongshu Ling, Shizhong, Shangshu Zuo Pushe) participated in the meeting of the Political Affairs Hall, were the prime ministers of the current dynasty.
Note 3: Hedong General Secretary: This was another very empty official. It was established in an important surrounding area in the second year of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty (628). Later, it was mostly served as the governor and was mostly used for patrols.
ps: I wrote this edict, everyone can read it as much as possible, just understand it...