The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 878 Rebellion in Tang Capital
The Li Tang Dynasty implemented the army-first policy, which made Xiao Yu, who was in charge of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, extremely busy. He not only had to cooperate with the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Officials to recruit troops, but also prepared food for the army. After that, he was in charge of farming and other livelihood issues.

On this day, Xiao Yu took the time to go to Nanshi to observe the people's sentiments. As soon as he arrived at the gate of the city, he found that the city was filled with extremely tense atmosphere.

Impatient yelling and cursing came one after another. This is the seventh consecutive day that this kind of rice buying has happened.

The phenomenon of rising food prices has actually started since the beginning of the year, from [-] yuan per bucket at the beginning to [-] yuan, and then to [-] yuan. Since the increase was not large, no one paid much attention to it. price will drop.

But in February, the price of food suddenly exploded, from 240 renminbi to [-] renminbi, and it has been rising at a rate of [-] renminbi a day in the past few days. Yesterday it reached a height of [-] renminbi for a bucket of rice.The rise in food prices caused the prices of other commodities to rise accordingly, and the people in the capital complained.

The reasons for the rise in grain prices were even discussed by the common people. Some said that the drought and snow in the south of Yizhou caused a sharp drop in winter wheat production; , when the common people saw the high profits, they rushed into the mountains to dig trees, and they had no intention of serving the fields, which eventually reduced the grain production; some people said that the court collected a large amount of grain to supply the army, resulting in the government buying up all the grain in the market, and some people said that the tax was too heavy. ... In short, there are different opinions, but any statement has rules to follow, and it is not nonsense.

The merchants agreed that there was a problem with the money system. On the one hand, the amount of money in the Sui Dynasty increased greatly, taking away a large amount of goods. The court exchanged the money with gold and silver to buy iron ore in the Sui Dynasty. On the other hand, the bad coins of Kaiyuan Tongbao circulating in the country are flooding.

Xiao Yu also has a deep understanding that the imperial court was already in a dilemma of insufficient copper, but when it was in Jingzhou, it used a large amount of gold, silver, copper ingots, and copper coins to buy high-priced grain and iron ore from the Sui Dynasty as strategic reserves. Tang's copper deficiency has further expanded.Nowadays, even the limited copper is used to cast arrow clusters, so that the amount of money on the market begins to shrink. As a result, the existing money can only be recycled and recast to reduce the copper content of the money. In the past, the copper content of a Kaiyuan Tongbao The amount is as high as [-]%, and the copper content is higher than that of Yanhuang Tongbao in the Sui Dynasty. But now the newly minted money is only [-]% to [-]% of the previous one. It turns out that the number of bad money has soared and the result is that the money is worthless. Why doesn't the price of food rise?

Although Xiao Yu is illiterate in finance, he also knows that the collapse of a dynasty means the collapse of the people's livelihood. The biggest problem of the Tang Dynasty is the loss of order. If Li Yuan can listen to Li Jiancheng's advice and settle down to restore order instead of crazy military expansion, then the country's strength will be Will slowly recover, but Li Yuan is walking exactly the same path as Yang Guang.

Yang Guang's first Koryo War had just ended, and he began to prepare for the second Koryo War. For military supplies, he frantically casted bad money and plundered the wealth of the people. How could the world not be chaotic.

The Li Yuan in front of him has just lost Jingzhou for a few months, and then frantically expanded his army, frantically minted money and plundered the wealth of the people. How similar is this to the original Yang Guang?

In fact, Xiao Yu also understood Li Yuan's suffering. Yang Guang was in a strong offensive at the time. As long as he stopped the second Goguryeo, he could run the Sui Dynasty well; but Li Yuan couldn't. The powerful Sui Dynasty could not let the Li Tang Dynasty Slowly recovering, so the army can only be expanded by killing the chicken and taking the eggs to deal with the attack of the Sui army.

However, there is indeed a special reason for the sharp rise in food prices during this period. Since last winter, Ziyang, Longshan, Meishan, Luchuan, Fuling, Dangqu, and Berkshire in southern Yizhou have not rained in most areas. It was so dry that the water level for irrigation could not be obtained, and the winter wheat died in large areas before it grew, and then was crushed to death by a heavy snow, and froze to death. Therefore, from February onwards, a large number of refugees from southern Yizhou flooded into Chengdu for food, while Shengshang and court officials all visited Pingwu, Jinshan, Wenshan, Pu'an, Yicheng, Brazil, Qing Dynasty, etc. Hua and other places caused chaos in the capital and skyrocketed food prices.

Xiao Yu heaved a long sigh. In the past when Luoyang was in chaos, he accompanied him on the expedition and could not feel the pressure from the officials in Luoyang. Now he deeply understands the horror of the refugees and the helplessness of the officials. Li Yuan, who was already frightened, did not give everyone any real power. Instead, he canonized Li Yuanji as Liushou and Jing Zhaoyin, and all the military and political power in Chengdu fell into Li Yuanji's hands.Let Xiao Yu, a member of the administration and political affairs, have all kinds of ideas, but it doesn't help.

More than 20 refugees have poured into the capital today, and there are still many refugees coming from the disaster area in a steady stream, but the government has neither come forward to provide relief, nor has it opened a warehouse to release food, so sooner or later there will be big troubles, even a literati like him I can understand it all, so does King Qi, who was ordered to guard the capital, not understand at all?Even if I don't understand, I have already stated that it has a lot to do with it.

At this moment, a scream came from behind Xiao Yu, "The refugees broke in!"

When Xiao Yu turned his head, he was so startled that he almost fell off his horse. He saw a mass of refugees rushing from all directions, young and strong men running in front, mixed with a large number of women and children, and it was only more than 200 steps away from Nanshi.

There was a sudden commotion at the gate of the city, and the people fled in all directions. Under the guard of the guards, Xiao Yu hurriedly ran towards the city office. After a group of them walked more than a hundred steps, they heard crying and screaming behind them. Turn around and flee all the way to the Municipal Department.

"Hungry people have broken into the city, quickly send the yamen servants to maintain order." Xiao Yu shouted when he arrived at the Municipal Office.

"Xiao Xiangguo, there are only a dozen of us." The chief officer of the municipal office knew Xiao Yu, and he said with a sad face, "The military power is in the hands of King Qi."

"Then send someone to notify King Qi and let him send troops to maintain order." Xiao Yu was anxious.

"Here."

City Department officials were in a mess and rushed out of the gate one after another.

But distant water cannot save the near fire. When Xiao Yu was running wildly, the refugees who poured into the city broke out a large-scale food grabbing incident, and none of the dozens of rice shops in Nanshi was spared. Shops, fish shops, silk shops, clothing shops, medicine shops, and Changping warehouses were also hit one after another. All money and goods were robbed, shops were burned, shopkeepers were beaten to death, and the capital city was trampled to death, squeezed to death, and hacked to death. There were more than a thousand civilians, refugees, Changping warehouse servants, and businessmen, and nearly [-] people were injured, which led to the "Nanshi Incident" that shocked the government and the public.

At the same time, a similar refugee riot occurred in Xishi, one of the three cities, killing and injuring more than [-] people.

Affected by these two incidents, the capital was in turmoil and the price of food soared. In just one day, Doumi climbed to [-] yuan.

The people in the city were full of grievances, and the officials were angry. Everyone pointed the finger at Li Yuanji, the king of Qi who stayed behind in the capital.

As the left-behind, Jing Zhaoyin, he can hardly escape the responsibility for causing such a serious incident in the capital.

What made the officials and the people in the capital even more dissatisfied was that the army did not enter the capital to take over the defense of the city until more than an hour after the two incidents occurred; Negotiations, so the Beijing officials held a farewell banquet for His Royal Highness the day before yesterday. As a result, King Qi, who returned from the palace, vomited blood from his horse and fell to the ground.

When the riot broke out in the capital, King Qi had been in a coma for two days, and the imperial doctor was trying his best to rescue him. This soldier was dispatched by Shi Hanzhi, the director of Wuchuan, who took the soldier's talisman privately without hesitation of being severely punished.

……

At night, Xiao Yu came to Prince Qi's Mansion to visit Li Yuanji who was lying in bed. The room was filled with a strong smell of medicinal herbs. Xiao Yu saw Li Yuanji's sunken eyes, pale face, and very weak breathing, almost to the point of dying.

"You help me lift His Highness up, and I'll feed His Highness some medicine." Han Zhi instructed several maids.

A maid said in a low voice: "Han Changshi, Your Highness had blood in his urine this morning, can you stop taking the medicine?"

"Nonsense. If His Highness hadn't taken the medicine, he would have died of poison a long time ago. How could he survive until now? Help him up."

"Here."

The two maids had no choice but to help Li Yuanji up. Han Zhi took out a jade board, carefully pried open Li Yuanji's teeth, and quietly pinched Li Yuanji three times where no one was paying attention.Then he took the medicine bowl and poured down the medicine soup slowly, but most of it flowed out again and spilled on Li Yuanji's clothes.

"Fortunately, I drank a lot this time, so it should improve." Han Zhi breathed a sigh of relief.

Xiao Yu was shocked. Han Zhi pried open Li Yuanji's teeth. This was an extremely rude move. How could he do this?Not only was he shocked, but he was also skeptical.

"Xiao Xiang, please discuss matters outside." Putting down the medicine bowl, Han Zhi said to Xiao Yu.

The two walked to the outer room one after the other, Xiao Yu couldn't help asking, "Han Changshi, I heard that His Royal Highness King Qi suddenly vomited blood and fell off his horse the day before yesterday. What's wrong with him?"

"Your Highness is my number one general in the Tang Dynasty. His physique is very good. How could he be sick? He was poisoned." Han Zhi sighed.

"Poisoned?" Xiao Yu also heard some rumors, and even asked many people nearby. Some people said that they saw Li Yuanji falling from the horse and vomiting blood, and frowned, "Poisoned at the farewell banquet?"

"Exactly." Speaking of it, Han Zhi really admired Li Yuanji, he just gave a plan of framing Li Yuanji, asking him to pretend to be poisoned, and then bribed the imperial doctor who saw the doctor.Who would have thought that this guy would be even more ruthless, after he pretended to fall from a horse and vomit blood, he would silently estimate the time it would take for the imperial doctor to come to his mansion when he returned home. See the imperial doctor; when the imperial doctor finished his diagnosis, he went out to dispense the medicine, turned around and drank the antidote that had been prepared, and when the imperial medicine was prepared, his poison had actually been cured.

He sighed, and said to Xiao Yu: "Maybe it's because your life should not be lost. Your Highness got a lot of medicinal herbs when he searched the local bullies, so that the imperial doctor could prepare them in time; otherwise, your Highness might become a dead body at this time." dead body."

Xiao Yu said in a low voice: "I heard that the King of Huai'an sent someone to investigate the poisoner. It is said that His Royal Highness is behind the scenes, but the palace man who poisoned him is already dead, so there is not enough evidence."

Han Zhi pretended to be surprised: "No way! The crown prince is a humble gentleman who has always been on good terms with His Royal Highness King Qi. How could he possibly poison his brother with the same parents? The humble official thinks that it was done by the Sui Dynasty and wanted to mess up the political situation in the Tang Dynasty."

Xiao Yu sighed, "I hope so too, but all the evidence now points to His Highness the Crown Prince; in fact, King Jin has completely missed the throne. If King Qi, who is deeply loved by the Holy Majesty, is poisoned and dies, then His Highness the Crown Prince is The biggest beneficiary. From this, it can be judged that His Royal Highness has a strong motive."

"But besides the crown prince, King Jin, and King Qi, Your Majesty has many other princes."

"That's what you say!" Xiao Yu sighed: "But the other princes are not only concubines, but also young. If the country is stable, they can be cultivated slowly, and a talented prince can be selected to inherit Guozuo. But now, My Tang Dynasty is in danger, the young prince not only can't maintain the Tang Dynasty, but also can't cope with the turbulent trend of the Sui Dynasty! For the continuation of the country, even if the emperor knew that the prince poisoned the king of Qi, he could only pass the throne to the prince due to the situation .”

Han Zhi didn't expect that there would be so many twists and turns, so he asked again, "How did the Ministry of Punishment decide?"

Xiao Yu said: "The King of Huai'an, the Secretary of the Ministry of Punishment, and the Minister of Dali Temple rushed to see the Holy One in the afternoon."

Han Zhi nodded: "This humble position can't be decided, and I can't control it. Now I will do my best to supervise the Qi Palace to prevent His Highness from being injured again. And the imperial doctor said that if His Highness is poisoned again, even if it is cured, the root cause of the disease will still be left behind. "

"Then you have to take good care of His Highness, and I'm leaving." Xiao Yu got up and said goodbye.

As soon as Xiao Yu left, Han Zhi walked into Li Yuanji's recuperating room and sent the maid out. After a while, he smiled and said, "Your Highness, there is no one left."

Li Yuanji just sat up, got out of bed, stretched his body, and said: "It's too uncomfortable to pretend to be sick, sir, let me recover sooner!"

Han Zhi said with a smile: "In terms of time, His Highness can wake up today, but he needs to be as weak as possible, and the city is in chaos right now. If His Highness goes out at this time, he will be severely criticized. It will be another day of chaos. The greater the influence, the more angry the Holy One will be."

Li Yuanji waved his hand to ask Han Zhi to sit down, and asked in a low voice, "Is there any problem with this plan?"

Han Zhi smiled slightly, "After planning for so long, preparing so well, and the King of Huai'an who is deeply trusted by the Holy Majesty, how could there be a problem? This time, the crown prince is hard to argue with."

Speaking of this, Han Zhi continued: "Because of the abdication, the Holy Majesty not only broke the trust of others, but also broke the trust of His Highness the Crown Prince. As long as the Crown Prince appeared in front of him, he would be reminded of the back-and-forth, and would feel embarrassed, saying After all, the crown prince has become a thorn in the eyes and a thorn in the flesh of the Holy Majesty, otherwise His Highness would not have allowed His Highness to investigate the Prince. Now we are just following His Majesty's wishes and helping him along the way, so that His Majesty can get the reason to abolish the Prince, as long as we don't Lu Chen, the prince will definitely not be able to turn over this time."

Li Yuanji pondered for a while and said, "Then do we have any exposed places?"

"There are still a lot of people who know people from lowly positions. Only by silencing them all can we be sure." In this incident, Han Zhi arranged for Li Yuanji's former cronies.If he is killed, then some Black Ice Terrace soldiers who have sneaked in can be promoted, so as to achieve the goal of taking over Wu Chuansi in its entirety.

"Yes." Li Yuanji nodded. He also supported Han Zhi's suggestion. As for the people below, he naturally didn't care.He asked again, "Does Xiao Yu have any doubts?"

"No!" Han Zhi chuckled, "Xiao Yu will definitely become a sharp blade in the hands of His Highness."

Li Yuanji was stunned for a moment, then suddenly slapped his thigh, and said excitedly: "Xiao Yu is upright, and he will definitely report to the emperor about the matter. In this way, I have nothing to do with the riots in the capital."

(End of this chapter)