I directed the Xuanwumen Incident

Chapter 497 Too much food is also a hidden danger?

Wei Zheng's words made the entire Hall of Liangyi fall into silence.

Several ministers who had originally reprimanded him were shocked at the moment and remained silent.

Yes!

Growing grain does not make money, so everyone goes to grow other cash crops.

If the weather is smooth and the harvest is good in the coming year, then nothing will happen... But what if there is a drought or a plague of locusts?

That must be a catastrophe year that is several times more serious than ordinary disaster years!Those who starve to death will surely multiply!

Who can guarantee a smooth weather for the coming year?

Although everyone is flattering the emperor, saying that the emperor governed the country well and was rewarded by the heavens, so that the grain will be plentiful and the world will be peaceful.

But who knows if God will change his face next year?

Those flattering words, the people who say it don't believe it, and the people who listen to it don't believe it...

"What Wei Aiqing said makes sense."

The smile on Li Shimin's face gradually faded, and he said in a deep voice,

"Then, in your opinion, what should you do?"

A thing worth praising merits and virtues turned out to be a hidden danger in the end.

Li Er felt a little uncomfortable.

But if you are not happy, you are not happy, the problem has to be solved.

"Returning to Your Majesty, just as the Grand Master said, the imperial court should come forward to purchase grain."

Wei Zheng said loudly,
"In this way, the price of grain can be stabilized at an appropriate price, and it will not hurt farmers because it is too cheap, nor will it hurt the common people because it is too expensive."

"Actually, regulating food prices is a great thing that truly benefits the country and the people. If His Majesty can do this well, even the ministers will admit that this is a great achievement."

Li Shimin couldn't help curling his lips when he heard this.

Do you admit it?
How old are you, do you need to admit it?
"Hum..."

Li Er hummed and said,

"Then it seems that the government still has to purchase grain from the private sector?"

"Is there anyone in the yamen who is short of food? Fang Aiqing."

As Shang Shu Zuo Pu She, Fang Xuanling is in charge of the government offices all over the world, so he naturally knows the details of various places.

"Go back to Your Majesty."

Fang Xuanling came out and said,
"Government government offices in various places, including the central government, are not short of food, and salaries, grain and rice are distributed according to actual conditions."

"In fact, I have already ordered the officials below to check the grain and rice in the official warehouses in various places. Those who have shallow warehouses have already bought grain."

"Nowadays, it's quite full. If we want to buy more grain, I'm afraid we need to set up additional granaries all over the Tang Dynasty."

Li Shimin couldn't help being a little surprised when he heard this.

"You are astute, it's all arranged."

He applauded,

"good."

"Your Majesty's reputation is too high. It's an extremely simple truth to prepare food in good years and spend it in bad years." Fang Xuanling said humbly.

Li Shimin helped his forehead.

"I've done my job well, but I have more problems."

Li Er smiled helplessly,

"The government can buy grain, but they can't just buy it all for no reason. If you don't eat it, it will go moldy and go bad, right?"

"As for adding granaries, it is barely a solution...but it is only a stopgap measure after all. After all, the imperial court cannot set up official granaries everywhere without restriction. If there are too many granaries, some people's pockets will be fattened in vain."

"Is there a long-term solution? Which love minister can solve this situation?"

He glanced around, but there was no minister to answer for a while.

Knocking, knocking, eyes fell on Xu Fenglei's body.

Hey, this kid lowered his head and shook his head... What about fugue here?
"Teacher—"

Li Shimin raised his voice a little bit and snorted coldly,

"You were the first one to jump out to support Wei Zheng just now, it seems that you already have an idea!"

"Don't ask me to name you every time, so you are willing to speak! As a subject, it is my duty to share my worries, you should take the initiative!"

what--

Xu Fenglei yawned, stretched lazily, and stretched his muscles.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty..."

He said apologetically,
"I didn't sleep well yesterday, my mind was so chaotic, I almost squinted for a moment."

"Can you give me a cigarette to refresh me?"

Ministers: "..."

Li Shimin: "#￥%...&*#￥!!!"

What a solemn place, what a holy place above this chapel!
Do you want to smoke?

Are you puffing away here?Like what?

Since the end of last year, after the cavalrymen of the Tang Dynasty found tobacco in the eastern part of Khitan and brought it back, cigarettes have become popular in Chang'an for a while, and have become a hot treasure in the hands of dignitaries and nobles.

With the growth of demand, the technology of making cigarettes has also advanced by leaps and bounds. Today's cigarettes have many shapes!
Of course, the shape is secondary, the key is the tobacco.Khitan shredded tobacco is divided into three grades, only the low grade and middle grade are circulated among wealthy businessmen and dignitaries among the people, and the top grade is only available in the imperial palace, especially for the emperor!

What Xu Fenglei asked for was naturally the batch of high-grade cigarettes specially provided for the emperor.

"nonsense!"

Li Shimin said displeasedly,

"Is it above the court hall where you smoke?"

"I won't allow it!"

He himself didn't dare to smoke in the court hall, for fear of ruining his image and manners, he would at most smoke a few during the small meetings in the political affairs hall.

This Xu Fenglei is too out of tune!

"Oh--"

Xu Fenglei shook his head and said lazily,

"The minister couldn't remember, his mind was so dazed, he didn't have any thoughts..."

Li Shimin: "!!!"

Hard, fist hard!
"If you have no idea, step back! Don't get in the way of me!"

Li Er was annoyed,

"Manchurians, civil and military, are all wise men, can't they think of a countermeasure?"

"I don't need you!"

This kid is playing cheap on purpose!
I won’t show you the picture, let’s cool off!

"According to the order."

Xu Fenglei cupped his hands, and retreated to the side.

Ministers: "..."

Dare to stretch out his hands in the court to ask for this and that, and still be so disrespectful to the emperor, he is the Grand Master Xu Gong.

"Brainstorm!"

Li Shimin sonorously said,

"Come up with a way to deal with the government's purchase of grain for him!"

"Without him being a butcher, would I still be able to eat hairy pigs?"

"Come on, anyone who loves Qing has an idea can speak up, and if the words are reasonable, I will reward them!"

Ministers; "..."

Inside the Hall of Liangyi, there was complete silence.

All of them lowered their heads and remained motionless.

Li Shimin looked at this non-stationary picture like a still picture, and his cheeks almost bulged.

Is there really no one in use?

Not so much, right? !
"Fang Aiqing, Wei Aiqing, and auxiliary machines, what do you think?"

Li Shimin began to roll the roll,
"Let's hear it, I don't blame you if you say something bad."

The three of them looked at each other upon hearing this.

"I'm still thinking about it..."

"The same is true for my ministers. It is about food, so I dare not speak nonsense."

"The minister is the same..."

They all answered cautiously.

The words spoken in the court are recorded by the historians. Even if they have some thoughts in their hearts, they will never speak if they don't think clearly.

Li Shimin stood up abruptly, scanned and scanned among the ministers, and saw that they were silent, and finally could only look at Xu Fenglei.

"come!"

He said in a strange way,

"Take a box of my high-grade shredded tobacco and light one for the Grand Master."

"There is no one in my court, I can only count on our resourceful Grand Master!"

There were thorns in these words, but Xu Fenglei didn't care, instead he laughed when he took the cigarette case.

"Thank you for your majesty's gift, I may have been greedy for this for a long time."

He laughed and said,

"Received the high-grade shredded tobacco rewarded by His Majesty, I suddenly feel like I have a diarrhea collapse!"

"This is a suggestion for His Majesty!"

With that said, Xu Fenglei put a whole pack of cigarettes into his arms.

He still has what he should have. It would be too absurd for him to smoke openly in the Hall of Erectile Dysfunction in this great court meeting.

Smoking is the purpose, where is not smoking?

"Say your own!"

Li Shimin's expression softened a little, but he still said in a bad mood.

"Returning to Your Majesty, I think that the government should purchase grains to form an interaction and cycle with the people. If it is only consumed internally, it will never be exhausted."

Xu Fenglei said seriously,

"After all, there are only a few people in the imperial court and government offices, with only a few mouths; while the folks have countless mouths."

"So, I have three proposals!"

He held out three fingers.

Li Shimin adjusted his body slightly and sat upright, all the ministers also listened attentively.

"First, open a free warehouse in addition to the official warehouse!"

Xu Fenglei said in a deep voice,

"The free warehouse system existed in the Sui Dynasty. Its original intention was good. It raised food from the people to prepare for the famine, and when the famine came, it would be distributed unconditionally to the victims."

"To set up a free warehouse, on the one hand, the court does not need to pay for the purchase. It only needs to explain the benefits of the righteous warehouse to the people, and naturally it can be easily raised. Especially in a good year, most people are willing to donate food and will not be disgusted."

"On the other hand, when a natural disaster strikes, there is no need for the imperial court to buy food for disaster relief. As long as the charity warehouse is opened, it will be enough to relieve the victims."

"In terms of the system alone, the righteous warehouse system is extremely perfect! But often after raising food from the people, the officials have selfish motives and will occupy the righteous warehouse, and eventually they are taken away by tyranny. When the real disaster year, a grain No rice will be distributed to the victims!"

"In this way, raising food has become a pretentious exploitation! My Tang Dynasty, I can't follow the old path of the Sui Dynasty!"

Li Shimin frowned.

"I know the system of the former Sui Dynasty."

he said,

"The Sui Dynasty accumulated a lot of grain, and when it was the most prosperous, there were too many official warehouses and righteous warehouses! But when it was really necessary to help the victims, from the emperor to the officials, none of them were willing to open warehouses for disaster relief! For example, the Luoyang warehouse Well, it’s all very rich, but ordinary people can’t enjoy a single drop of this oil.”

"In the end, it was the rebels who entered Luoyang all the way to grab the Luoyang warehouse. Using the food in the Luoyang warehouse to recruit soldiers and horses, they quickly became big."

"Thinking about it, it's really ironic."

Xu Fenglei nodded.

"Exactly."

He said loudly,

"That's why I, Datang, absolutely cannot have such a situation!"

"Otherwise, Yicang will only be a means of exploiting the people, not a benefit for all people!"

Li Shimin nodded.

"I will think about it carefully and establish a system again."

He applauded,

"However, your idea is true. You can use what you get from the people and use it for the people. You can consume a lot of food from the people without spending half of the country's money."

"Yi Cang is better than Guan Cang!"

"Let's talk about your second strategy!"

With this idea alone, the uncomfortable feeling of being 'suoyan' just now has disappeared.

This idea is worth a box of top-grade shredded tobacco!
"Yes."

Xu Fenglei said again,
"Secondly, it is wine making."

"As we all know, wine is the essence of grain, and every jar of wine needs to consume several times the grain!"

"If you buy folk grain at a low price, turn it into wine and sell it back to the folk, then this is definitely a very profitable business!"

"In this way, people who love wine can get good wine, food can be consumed, and the economy can be developed. It's a win-win situation!"

This set is the inner loop.

"Uh-huh……"

Li Shimin stroked his beard, nodded again and again,

"Brewing wine is also an idea."

"However, this can only be done in good years. If it is a bad year, we must reduce production and even ban alcohol!"

"Otherwise, it would be a great waste if the food that could survive would be turned into liquor!"

Xu Fenglei shrugged.

"It depends on how His Majesty adjusts the policy then."

He casually said,

"The minister is only responsible for coming up with ideas. It is up to His Majesty to make good use of them."

The implication... Anyway, I don't take the blame for what happened.

"Just say it, I have my own thoughts."

Li Shimin waved his hand.

"The third is to develop animal husbandry."

Xu Fenglei said,

"When there is too much grain, some of the aged and impurities can be converted into feed for livestock."

"Livestock eat fodder, we eat livestock."

"Presumably everyone knows that only by eating meat can one become strong! But meat is precious, and ordinary people can't eat a bite of meat in a year! Even high-ranking officials and dignitaries can't eat big fish and meat all at once."

"This is all because the animal husbandry industry is not developed enough. If the imperial court can buy some old grains and miscellaneous grains as feed, vigorously develop the animal husbandry industry, and bring down the price of meat, then our Tang people's physical fitness will definitely be able to rise to a higher level!"

"Even, there can be a bigger ideal—"

"It's not enough for everyone to eat enough, we have to let everyone eat meat, that is the prosperity!"

At the end, Xu Fenglei himself was a little excited.

Although it is a big cake, as long as the big cake can be made, even if it is only made with some cake scum, it will be a great blessing to ordinary people!

"Everyone can eat meat..."

Li Shimin murmured,

"If it can be done, it will indeed be a prosperous age that truly surpasses the Three Sovereigns!"

His heart surged a little bit.

"The minister's idea is finished."

Xu Fenglei said hesitantly,

"The free warehouse system, wine making, and the development of animal husbandry."

"Any one of these three can consume a lot of food. Your Majesty can choose one or all of them."

"All in all, the hidden danger that Duke Wei said can be solved, Your Majesty... Is it not too much for me to get this box of high-grade shredded tobacco?"

Li Shimin rolled his eyes.

"Not too much, not too much, I will reward you with two more boxes later."

He responded, turned to look at Wei Zheng, and said with a half-smile,

"Wei Aiqing, is Xu Aiqing's strategy satisfactory? Can my achievements be counted?"

Wei Zheng bowed his hands in salute.

"The grand master is a great talent, and I deeply admire him."

He said seriously,

"With these three strategies, there is no hidden danger."

"However, Rong Weichen said a word. Yicang and animal husbandry are both good, but wine making needs to be cautious. It is best for the court not to start with it."

(End of this chapter)