People in the early Tang Dynasty: I compete with Wu Zhao for the throne

Chapter 1812: Honeycomb Briquettes, Silla's Six Mountain Range Defense Line
Preface to September Frost.

After the last autumn rain, the temperature became colder.

The emperor issued an edict, ordering the Sixteen Guards to enter Mount Zhongnan to obtain old wood for use in winter fires. At the same time, he ordered the Sixteen Guards to record the number of trees cut down by the army and to cultivate young trees and plant them in the mountains the following year.

It will be circulated in the future and become a permanent system.

……

Outside the Liangyi Hall, Liu Zhirou, the chief officer of Yongzhou, walked up the jade steps with a solemn expression, and then entered the spacious hall.

Liu Zhirou held the tablet in his hand, lowered his head, walked to the center of the hall, knelt down, and kowtowed solemnly, saying, "I, Yongzhou Chief Clerk Liu Zhirou, pay my respects to Your Majesty."

"Stand up." The emperor's voice came from above, and Liu Zhirou slowly stood up.

Only at this time did he notice that there were a dozen civil and military officials sitting on each side of the hall.

There were the Left Prime Minister Lu Yuanfang, the Right Prime Minister Wang Dezhen, the Minister of the Central Secretariat Li Yiyan, the Shizhong Wang Dezhen, the Minister of Personnel Yun Hongyin, the Minister of Revenue Pei Judao, the Minister of Punishment Xiao Siye, the Minister of War Wang Fangyi, the Minister of Works Huang Rensu, the Chief Architect Pei Feishu, the Supervisor of the Lesser Treasure Wei Hongji, as well as the Sixteen Guards generals, generals and other important officials in the court.

Liu Zhirou glanced around and suddenly found that none of the deputy prime ministers of the three provinces, the assistant ministers of the six ministries, and other deputy officials in the court were here.

Even Cen Changqian and Wang Jishan, the two prime ministers, are not here.

Is the emperor holding a special court meeting?

……

Li Xuan looked at Liu Zhirou who interrupted the meeting and asked calmly, "Is there something wrong, Mr. Liu?"

"Yes!" Liu Zhirou came back to her senses and said solemnly, "Your Majesty, I inspected the East and West Markets today and found that the price of furs in Chang'an City is 30% higher than in previous years, and there is even a trend of going even higher..."

"Now that winter is approaching, it is normal for some people to prepare a large amount of furs in advance." Li Xuan calmly refuted Liu Zhirou.

"Your Majesty, that is what you said, but if the price cannot be lowered, someone might die in winter." Liu Zhirou bowed solemnly.

"It will be lowered. I said so." Li Xuan said indifferently.

Liu Zhirou looked up in surprise. Li Xuan waved his hand and said, "Mr. Liu, you don't have to worry about this. I want to ask you, how is the firewood reserve in Chang'an City now?"

Liu Zhirou came back to her senses and quickly bowed, "Your Majesty, because the army has been cutting down trees collectively, the price of firewood in the city has also risen a lot."

"So what about the food?" Li Xuan asked immediately.

"The price of grain has also increased, but it is less than the same period last year." After a brief pause, Liu Zhirou continued, "Although there was a disaster this year, because Your Majesty prepared for disaster relief in advance, the autumn grain was delivered to Chang'an as in previous years, and even more than in previous years."

Li Xuan nodded slightly: "That's good."

After a short pause, Li Xuan said, "It's only late autumn now, the cold won't kill people, and the price of firewood is high. Many people who rely on it for a living can take this opportunity to make some money... Liu Qing, send more people to watch at the city gates. If any rich family uses their power to squeeze the people's last chance of survival, then you should arrest them and cut off their chance of survival."

"Yes!" Liu Zhirou bowed and said, "Your Majesty, please calm down. I will follow the law."

Li Xuan nodded and said, "Let me tell you something. In half a month, a large amount of newly made silk will be sent to Chang'an from Jiangnan. By then, not only will the prices of clothes in all clothing stores drop sharply, but they will even hire a large number of women to make clothes. You should be prepared and don't panic."

Liu Zhirou looked at Li Xuan in surprise, and said, "May I ask your Majesty, how much will this batch of silk be?"

Liu Zhirou understood Li Xuan, and he knew that generally speaking, things like this were not worth alarming Li Xuan at all.

But now that Li Xuan specifically mentioned this matter, it can be imagined that the quantity of this batch of silk is definitely not small.

"It's probably twice the amount of silk produced in a previous winter." Li Xuan waved his hand indifferently.

Liu Zhirou's expression changed slightly. He carefully cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, if this happens, the price of clothes in Chang'an will probably drop sharply."

"Let the price fall. Anyway, not many ordinary people can afford to wear silk. If the price drops, more ordinary people can wear it. And in this way, the price of linen in Chang'an will also drop." Li Xuan shook his head indifferently. Doing so will be good for the people.

"But Your Majesty, if this happens, I'm afraid a large number of Western Region merchants will take the opportunity to lower the price." Liu Zhirou's face was filled with worry.
Li Xuan smiled softly and said, "Why, Liu Qing, have you started to be the head of the Ministry of Revenue now?"

"Haha!" All the ministers in the hall couldn't help but laugh.

"Your Majesty!" Liu Zhirou bowed with a solemn expression.

Li Xuan waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, this batch of silk will only be supplied to the people of Chang'an. In addition, I will use my name to announce to Chang'an that this is the silk that the merchants in Yangzhou sent to me after I went to Yangzhou. However, I don't need so much, so I let them sell it to the city at a low price to subsidize the people. And it will only be once this year."

"So that's how it is. Thank you, Your Majesty." Liu Zhirou bowed deeply.

"In addition." Li Xuan said calmly, "Next month, the army will have a batch of excess firewood, which will be sold to the city at a price three points higher than the market price. You should be prepared to make a list of all the poor, old and young people in Chang'an who cannot afford to live. The palace will then distribute some good food to help them get through the next month."

"I obey your command." Liu Zhirou bowed heavily. In fact, in Chang'an City, many people made a living by selling firewood.

Even if the price of firewood in the army will be three points higher than the market price at that time, it will still have an impact on the lives of ordinary people.

If by then the prices of grain, cloth, and even salt could be lowered, it would definitely be a good thing for the people.

"Okay, that's it." Li Xuan waved his hand slightly, and Liu Zhirou immediately bowed and said, "I'll take my leave."

……

Watching Liu Zhirou's leaving figure, Li Xuan sighed and said, "As the Chief of Yongzhou, it is normal for Liu Qing to care about the people, but it is rare for him to be so attentive."

"Yes!" Lu Yuanfang, Wang Dezhen and others bowed in unison.

"Let's talk business." Li Xuan raised his head and looked at the ministers and said, "The palace is buying a large number of furs, which will cause the price of furs in Chang'an City to increase greatly. There is no doubt that it will not be long before more furs will flow into Chang'an City. At that time, I will display honeycomb coal in front of the world, and then the price of furs will fall..."

Only when the price of furs drops to a level that Li Xuan can accept will he buy them in large quantities.

And every time a purchase is made, a large amount of honeycomb coal will be sent into the market.

Coal was discovered in prehistoric times. By the Han Dynasty, the rich and powerful had already started burning coal, and many people even used coal to smelt iron. Unfortunately, they did not know how to use coal correctly, resulting in it not being used properly.

When it came into Li Xuan's hands, a large amount of coal from Yunzhong, Yongbei, and even Xuzhou and Huaibei was sent to Chang'an, and then converted into honeycomb coal.

Once these honeycomb coals come out, they will greatly improve the lives of the people of the Tang Dynasty and can also be used in the military.

"Silk from Yangzhou and fur from the northwest, a combination of the two, will be used to make clothes. This winter, we will distribute them to the army in large quantities." After a brief pause, Li Xuan said solemnly, "Priority will be given to soldiers who fight in mountain areas, and cavalry soldiers will be given second place."

"Yes!" The ministers on both sides bowed in unison.

Li Xuan took a deep breath, looked at the ministers and said, "The problem with Dongdao is that except for the one-third of the plains in the west, most of the other areas are mountainous. After the attacks of the former Sui Dynasty, Emperor Gaozu, Emperor Taizong, and Emperor Gaozong, they have become proficient in using the mountains to block our army's attacks and then drag the war into winter."

The ministers became solemn. The biggest problem in attacking Dongdao Island was winter.

Once winter came, the Tang soldiers were not used to fighting in the extremely cold weather on Dongdao Island, and would be overturned immediately if anything went wrong.

"The Hanlin Academy has briefly sorted out the terrain of East Island." Li Xuan looked at the ministers calmly and said, "East Island has roughly six mountain ranges, and most of these six mountain ranges stretch from the east to the west coast, thus forming six invisible lines of defense.

The countries of the East Island have always relied on these six lines of defense to resist the Tang Dynasty. "

The few people in the court who had experience in the East Island War, as well as the officials who participated in the formulation of the major strategy back then, all nodded in agreement.

"There are few horses in Dongdao, and even fewer carriages, so their roads are very narrow, and they oppress the people very heavily. Ordinary people seldom go out, so in addition to the difficult roads, at some special times they will even directly dig up the river mouth and flood the terrain, thus blocking our army's progress." Li Xuan explained the difficulties of conquering Silla bit by bit.

Everyone kept it firmly in mind.

No one asked Li Xuan whether it was worthwhile to do this, because since Yang Guang, Emperor Gaozu, Emperor Taizong, and Emperor Gaozong had been constantly fighting with Dongdao.

Even though Li Xian had been on the throne for only a short time, in the short six months since he became emperor, Silla and the Andong Protectorate had already been in constant friction.

"I have asked the Imperial Academy to devise a conscription strategy to assist the generals in invading Silla. The main strategy is to lure the Silla people to the north bank of the Taedong River, destroy part of their main force first, and then send a cavalry of 15,000 people to march directly along the plains to the southeast coast. At the same time, the northern army will press on to attract more Silla troops to the north, and then let the cavalry plunder and destroy various cities along the coast, and finally evacuate smoothly from the sea."

Li Xuan looked at the ministers and said seriously, "My Lords, I am not in a hurry. I am not in a hurry to pacify Dongdao in a short period of time. If one year is not enough, then two years. I will fight for half a year each year, and I will definitely start the war in winter. Do you understand?"

“Yes!” All the civil and military officials bowed.

"Roads!" Li Xuan said, "So starting next year, we will first train a group of people who can quickly build roads..."

"Thump thump thump..." A burst of hurried footsteps sounded in the West Hall, and Li Xuan couldn't help but frowned.

Xu Lu walked over quickly, and Li Xuan saw him and Zhou Sheng talking about something.

Soon, Xu Lu came back with joy on his face. He whispered a few words in Li Xuan's ear, and Li Xuan's face was immediately filled with surprise.

Afterwards, Li Xuan looked up at the ministers and said with uncontrollable joy: "My dear ministers, let's stop here today. Wang Zhaoyi in the palace has just given birth to a son for me. The palace supervisor has prepared a banquet to entertain my beloved ministers. I will not accompany you."

"Your Majesty, we respectfully send you off." All the ministers stood up and congratulated him.

(End of this chapter)