Cultivation of chastity

Chapter 84 The Execution of the Empire
At this moment, the Agricultural Institute has just finished harvesting.

Ma Zhou hadn't come back yet, Liu Shenwei hadn't come back yet, Lu Cai was in charge of the Agricultural Institute, and Li Tai figured in his heart that the peacock had harvested so much grain, and he should take advantage of the end of the summer harvest and people with surplus labor, so he should arrange some kind of project for the people.

Whether to build a road leading to the village in Gaoling, or build another bridge across the Wei River, or use some of the grain to make wine.

After all, the fourth year of Zhenguan can be regarded as a turning point in the development of Datang. From this year on, Datang will not say that the hard times have passed, but at least the national fortune is constantly rising, and relatively speaking, development has become the mainstream.

And just in a daze like this... No, it should be in the middle of thinking, so Li Shimin sent someone to announce that Li Tai was going to the Tai Chi Hall.

Li Tai naturally didn't dare to delay, and immediately came to the Tai Chi Hall.

Contrary to Li Tai's expectations, he did not see Li Chengqian in the Tai Chi Hall today.

After all, he has been listening to the government all along, and Li Tai was a little puzzled by not seeing him this time.

"Qing Que, Yu Shi Tan Pao, you purchased Chang'an's grain prices and intentionally raised the grain prices, is there such a thing!" Li Shimin said.

"Yes!" Li Tai answered seriously after hearing Li Shimin's words.

Hearing that Li Tai admitted this matter in such a way, the censor who came to play Li Tai was a little panicked.

They really didn't expect Li Tai to admit it like this. After all, it was Li Tai who planted the three-stone wheat field that lowered the price of grain.

Originally they thought that Li Tai's subordinates did this because they didn't know the seriousness of the matter, but they didn't expect Li Tai to admit it like that.

To be honest, even the censor might not really want to face Li Tai, after all, Li Tai now has the halo of producing three stones per mu.

In the feudal era, anyone who could increase food production was born with a moral halo, comparable to a gold medal for avoiding death.

"The King of Yue has always focused on farming, and I ask the sage to allow the King of Yue to explain the reasons in detail."

Dai Zhou took the initiative to stand up to support Li Tai. This scene made the important officials who were calmly observing at the scene stunned.

Because Dai Zhou's appearance this time was more or less intended to defend Li Tai, which was unexpected by everyone.

Although in the past few years, the relationship between Li Tai and the Ministry of Civil Affairs has become increasingly close, and now three stones of wheat are grown.

But Dai Zhou has always been fair and upright, but now he defends Li Tai, obviously in Dai Zhou's eyes, Li Tai is worthy of him.

"Sure!" Li Shimin also glanced at Dai Zhou unexpectedly, and then said to Li Tai: "Qingque, tell me the reason."

"Follow the order!" Li Tai heard Li Shimin's words, and without any hesitation, he began to talk about his purpose.

"Aye, I mainly have three reasons.

First, since ancient times, the price of food has hurt the people, and the price of food has hurt farmers. Especially in the Tang Dynasty, food was often used as a monthly salary.

Now that the price of food is halved, it is not only the farmers who are complaining, but also grassroots officials and other people who live on their salaries.

Everything that can be bought with the monthly salary in hand will be discounted. If the food price is too low, it will force the grassroots officials to corrupt the law! "

When everyone heard this, they couldn't help looking at each other, but Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui and Xiao Yu's expressions became serious.

They nodded secretly at what Li Tai said, what Li Tai said was indeed worth considering.

In particular, Du Ruhui was the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and he felt that he also needed to clean up the administration of officials.

Li Tai continued: "Second point, regardless of the corvee labor in Gaoling or the implementation of the water transportation plan, I think there must be enough grain reserves. This is the basis for the smooth implementation of the project."

Regarding this point, Dai Zhou and Du Ruhui nodded after hearing this, this is why they like Li Tai.

That is the money and food during the implementation of internal affairs, and Li Tai has already prepared it himself.

But his subordinates often had to wait for the approval of the court, and the procedure was much slower than that of Li Tai.

So sometimes Li Tai can make advances for work.

And Li Tai also said that there is no problem with his wealth, and he said that he would advance the money.

In the previous locust disaster to raise ducks, and the resettlement of the victims in the past, Li Tai basically advanced the funds first, and then the court went through the procedures to transfer the money and food to Li Tai. After all, it is meaningless to call Li Tai. Can get the money and food.

"As for the third point..." Li Tai looked around and whispered to Li Shimin, "Do you want to talk about it here?"

"Say it here!" Li Shimin said with a serious face when he heard Li Tai's words, "I have nothing to say to others."

"Third, Tai wants to get some food to make wine!" Li Tai said sincerely.

Hearing Li Tai's words, Zhang Xuansu stood up and said with a stern expression,

"King Yue, you don't know that the imperial court issued a ban on alcohol. You are not allowed to buy and sell alcohol without permission. As a prince, you should set an example."

"I know!" Li Tai nodded when he heard Zhang Xuansu's words,
"But it's different. At the time when Tang Dynasty promulgated the ban on alcohol, it was because of the Turkic coercion outside and the natural disasters inside. There was not enough food for people to eat, so how could we make wine for people.

Now that Turkic Jieli has been captured by Li Jing, the fortunes of the country are rising without disaster, and food is no longer in short supply, so why can't the ban on alcohol be lifted! "

Dou Lukuan said: "This year is only halfway through. The wheat you planted has been harvested, King Yue, but there are still a lot of fields with corn seeds, which may not be able to get the harvest that should be. King Yue is now saying that there will be no natural disasters this year. Is it too presumptuous!"

Li Tai took a step forward, and said in a high-pitched and unyielding voice:
"I understand the meaning of Shangshu Doulu, but it is a blessing for Datang that I defeated the Eastern Turks, my confidant.

The common people are short-sighted, unable to see thousands of miles away, and unable to feel the meaning of defeating the East Turks.

Will the lifting of the prohibition on alcohol let the people know that the Tang Dynasty won the war against the Eastern Turks, and empathize with them! "

Hearing Li Tai's words, everyone present couldn't help being stunned.

Because this kind of behavior of thinking from the standpoint of ordinary people is very rare for the ministers present.

Just like the prohibition of alcohol, for the current ministers, the existence of alcohol is due to the consumption of food, so it is natural that private drinking is prohibited when the country is in difficulty.

But in the court, except for Wei Zheng and a few ministers who lived on monthly salaries, no one really banned alcohol.

After all, it can't be bought or sold, so it's nothing to brew a little by yourself.

"King Yue's words are justified!" Wei Zheng stood up and saluted, and then said slowly:
"Now that General Manager Li has captured Jieli's squadron and returned to the court, it is a celebration of the whole world, and the ban on alcohol is temporarily lifted, just to have fun with the people.

However, the opening of the Prohibition Law is related to food security. I think the opening time of the Prohibition Law can be postponed.

At least to find out how this fall's harvest is doing before deciding whether to fully open up Prohibition. "

When everyone present heard that Wei Zheng had come forward to support Li Tai, they couldn't help looking at Li Shimin.

Li Shimin nodded and said: "What Xuan Cheng said is true, when the pharmacist returns with his army, he will drink alcohol for half a month to celebrate the destruction of the Eastern Turks."

Seeing that Li Shimin had made a decision, Li Tai couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

However, this breath was not smooth, Li Shimin said again:
"However, this time, Gaoling raised so much money just by relying on Gaoling? Is Gaoling making so much money?"

To be honest, in the past, Li Shimin simply thought that Li Tai was rich, and he could always pay out of his pants to solve problems that needed money to solve by making a trick out of nothing.

But this time, only relying on the money in Gaoling was able to stabilize the food price in Chang'an. This gave Li Shimin a clear understanding of Li Tai's ability for the first time.

In contrast, Li Tai's establishment of a granary seemed insignificant, because Li Tai was so rich!
Naturally, Li Tai couldn't say that it wasn't his own credit, just kidding, is being modest about things like being humble at this time!
If I can become Li Shimin's pocketbook, then I can do a lot of things!
So Li Tai naturally admitted generously,

"The main reason is that last year, after hearing that Manager Li captured Jieli Khan, people were hoarding money and silk, which was used this year.

It's just that the news of these Chang'an merchants was too fast. I had a bumper harvest in front of me, and they sold grain in the back.

Otherwise, I can save a lot of money once I get rid of my wheat. "

Hearing Li Tai's words, the ministers present couldn't help showing a bit of doubt on their faces.

One is that Li Tai never thought that Li Tai had been waiting for the food crash since last year.

The second is that Li Tai did not expect that Li Tai would be able to spend so much money this year.

"The king of Yue said that after Mr. Li captured Jieli Khan last year, did he affirm the low price of grain this year?"

Xiao Yu was slightly curious, and asked Tai, "How did you make such an assertion?"

"Yes!" Li Tai nodded and said, "Our main foreign enemy is the Eastern Turks, and if the Eastern Turks were eliminated, wouldn't the Tang Dynasty shift its focus from military affairs to construction?

Moreover, I proposed a water transportation plan last year, and Du Shangshu agreed to let me build a wharf on Longyou Road.

So can I not prepare cash! "

"King Yue, all your cash has been turned into food!" Du Ruhui said indifferently.

"At least food can be used to drive the local people to work. Longyou Road is not Gyeonggi, so it's safer to prepare more food!"

Li Tai didn't care much when he heard Du Ruhui's words, after all, in this era, food is directly spent as money.

"Qingque, but you haven't said yet, where did you get so much money?!" Li Shimin said solemnly.

Lee Tae-dao “Golneung Wharf is the center of the entire Gyeonggi-do, and because the waterways extend in all directions, it naturally attracted a large number of merchants to settle in.

Needless to say, the docking fee charged by the dock every day is not a small sum.

Not to mention the entire revenue system built around the wharf, so I have accumulated a little money. "

Hearing Li Tai's words, the Tang bureaucrats present breathed a little harder.

They really don't know that the wharf makes money like this, the most important thing is that the money will not fall on the common people, it is not considered exorbitant taxes.

All of a sudden, everyone in the entire court focused on Du Ruhui.

The chief person in charge of the water transport plan became Du Ruhui, and now that shipping is making so much money, everyone wants to take a share.

But Du Ruhui was completely unmoved. To be honest, he originally joined Li Tai's water transportation plan, more or less because of Fang Xuanling, to suppress Li Tai a little.

But now, seeing Li Tai relying on this wharf, he was able to cover the entire food price in Chang'an in a short period of time, which made Du Ruhui have a clear understanding of the benefits brought by this water transportation for the first time.

To some extent, if the entire route is fully developed, it can play a pivotal role in the entire tax system.

After all, the Tang Dynasty is not just a Wei River, but also the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, and the Grand Canal connecting the north and the south.

"Keming!" Li Shimin immediately said to Du Ruhui.

"The minister is here!" Du Ruhui stepped out decisively after hearing Li Shimin's words.

"I agree with the idea you mentioned last time of drawing people from the four ministries to set up a special Weihe transport supervisor, and I will draw up an order soon.

In addition to this matter... the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and the Palace of the King of Yue assisted in creating a model for the Grand Canal before taxation. "

Li Shimin was also decisive. After seeing the benefits of Gaoling Wharf, the procedure immediately became faster.

"I obey!" Du Ruhui immediately responded to Li Shimin after hearing Li Shimin's words.

Li Tai couldn't help blinking his eyes while watching this scene, seeing for the first time the executive power and efficiency brought by the feudal monarchy.

To be honest, if Li Shimin didn't see the benefits brought by Gaoling's wharf, then Li Tai's water transportation plan would come slowly and follow the procedures step by step. Even if Du Ruhui would do it seriously, he would only be serious.

But now, looking at the revenue brought by Li Tai's dock directly opened the door to a new world for the court officials present.

Let them discover that building a pier and charging fees can actually make so much money!

What else to say, of course, I will try my best to get this water transportation plan first, after all, the money is the most correct.

Of course, Li Tai is very clear that it is not possible to make money after the pier is repaired.

For example, Gaoling is the central location I specially chose, and the distance from Chang'an can be said to be close at hand.

It is precisely because of the huge consumer goods market in Chang'an that Gaoling has become so prosperous.

In addition, Gaoling built not only a simple wharf, but also a variety of supporting facilities, thus ensuring the normal operation of the entire logistics system.

As for other prefectures and counties on the Weihe River also learning to build wharves, Li Tai can be sure that they can make money if they can make money, but it is almost unrealistic to make it as big as Gaoling.

At most, the two ends of the Weihe River can eat the resources of the Kanto and the Western Regions. In addition, add another Qizhou, maybe they can eat the resources of the Shu, and they can be built bigger, but the ports in other regions can also play a role at most. Just for maintenance.

However, Li Tai naturally wouldn't bring it up. After all, build a few more ports so that students from his own agricultural school can make arrangements.

And this time, Li Tai saw the heat in Du Ruhui's eyes, obviously Ma Zhou might not be able to continue wandering around.

Originally, the imperial court still adhered to the idea of ​​slow work and careful work, and let Ma Zhou and water conservancy officials go to the Weihe River to investigate, but now, under Li Shimin's will, I am afraid that the project plan must be delivered to the government in the shortest possible time. Driven out!

(End of this chapter)