Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 80 The Invisible Dilemma
Li Longji did not directly answer whether he wanted Fang Chongyong to go to Hexi, but the next day he invited him to take a hot spring bath together and rejected the others.

As for Yang Yuhuan, she never showed up at all, and Fang Chongyong didn't know if she was here.

The scale of the Kowloon hot spring is much smaller than expected. At this moment, it is snowing heavily outside. Fang Zhongyong is soaking in the hot spring with an expressionless face, not feeling the chill of winter at all.

The enjoyment of an emperor is that all seasons are like spring and there is no suffering of hunger or cold.

A strange thought came to Fang Chongyong's mind. What if the hot spring pool was too big and the emperor fainted and drowned while taking a bath in it?
I'm afraid that even rescue will be troublesome at that time.

Sure enough, it's better to be smaller.

"Your inspector, Qianniuwei Zhonglang, can also be promoted to the official position. I think it would be good for you to be a Qianniuwei general."

Li Longji laughed while stroking the long beard on his chin.

Fang Chongyong looked at the other party's floppy belly, loose skin, and fat but not fat body that was covered up by wearing a robe, and quickly and unconsciously looked away.

He crossed his hands and saluted, saying: "Everything depends on the saints."

"Well, but can you tell me, what do you want to do when you go to Hexi? To buy Kunlun slaves or to buy things from the Western Regions?

Liangzhou is nice, but you'll get bored after staying there for a few days. It's not interesting to face the yellow sand all day long. "

Li Longji asked in confusion, still unable to figure out Fang Chongyong's true thoughts.

"Back to Sage, half of the atmosphere of the Tang Dynasty is in Hexi. If you don't go to Hexi, it's like you were not born in the Tang Dynasty. Sage has no time to move to Hexi because of busy state affairs, but I am a boy and have nothing important to do. . It is not a waste of time to go to Hexi to experience the glory of the Tang Dynasty while you are still young.

It is much better than staying in Chang'an and riding horses and fighting cocks with those powerful children. "

Fang Chongyong saluted solemnly and said.

"You just don't want others to say you are Fang Jieshuai's son. Why are you saying so many polite words to me?"

Li Longji waved his hand triumphantly, and then sighed: "Your father is a rare good general. I heard that you are engaged, and your future father-in-law will also be one of the best generals. I think you will be under a lot of pressure."

"The saint knows everything clearly. Nothing can be hidden from the saint."

Fang Chongyong carefully bowed and saluted.

"Although Hexi is in chaos, Liangzhou City is still safe. If you want a casual job in the state capital to join the army, then I will give you a state capital to join the army. Just stay with Cui Xiyi and watch and learn more. As for your father-in-law , I also sent him as Chishui Military Envoy to take charge of Liangzhou City, what do you think of this?"

"Thank you saint!"

Fang Chongyong said excitedly, he didn't expect that he had been planning for a long time, and there were follow-up operations, and he could finish it in advance!
"By the way, being an official requires status. If you don't take the imperial examination, then I will give you the status of a concubine."

Li Longji chuckled.

Anyway, Fang Chongyong carried the coffin for the former prince Li Ying and the other three, so it's not too much to bestow the status of "Guardian".

Fang Chongyong thought that Fang Youde had caused many things in Youzhou, which made the vain and arrogant Li Longji happy, and that was why he was so easy to talk to.

But when he returned to his residence in Huaqing Palace, Li Longji called another heavyweight courtier here, and that person was Li Linfu who was nicknamed "Brother Slave" by Li Longji!
Compared with the relaxed atmosphere just now, the conversation between Li Longji and Li Linfu was very serious at this time.

In the ninth year of Kaiyuan, the Sogdians in Shuofang rebelled. After the rebellion, Tang Ting moved all the Sogdians from the six states to avoid future troubles. , Xian, Yu and other prefectures, empty Henan, Shuofang thousands of miles."

Now that these barbarians have begun to collude with the party to cause chaos again, Li Linfu suggested that the barbarians of Liuzhou should be moved back to their original places, and the problem of chaos in Liuzhou should be solved by pulling out the bottom line.

At the beginning, the land of the six states had been relatively well developed by these miscellaneous people. The Tang court moved these Turkic Sogdians away. To be honest, it was a bit disgusting.Taking back other people's fertile land and then forcibly moving them to open up wasteland is indeed unethical.

But now, after 20 years of development, the Zahu people have developed new territories. As a result, Tang Ting wants to move these people back again!
This operation is a bit like fattening piglets and then being recycled by the store, exchanging old pigs for piglets and continuing to raise them again, which is a bit cheap.

Even Li Linfu felt embarrassed and came to ask Li Longji for advice.

"How do you think it's better to deal with it?"

Li Longji asked nonchalantly.He didn't want to care about this kind of thing at all. As long as Li Linfu's method was okay, then let's do it.

"Niu Xianke was in Hexi back then, and dealt with the Sogdian people more, and he was a man of faith. You can send Niu Xianke to the six states to recruit miscellaneous Hus, so that you can solve the problem without a single soldier."

Li Linfu sent Niu Xianke to death without blushing.

The key is that all this is in line with the rules and regulations of the imperial court. Niu Xian's position as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Industry can be started by adding a "recruiting envoy", and there is no need for any troublesome procedures.

You are a minister of the imperial court, six ministers.What's wrong with asking you to appease the Hu people? Is it because you are not good enough for you, or you don't want to go?
There are two official words, not to mention that Niu Xianke is just an "honest person" without a backing. Even if he is as slippery as Zheng Shuqing, he cannot escape such a mission.

Encouraging miscellaneous beards to settle in the frontier is naturally a great achievement, but who said that those miscellaneous beards could not dislike the imperial envoy and chop him up with one knife?
It can only be said that Li Linfu's tricks of manipulating people are so clever that it is hard to guard against.He didn't need to blush, and he didn't need to engage in slander to kill a senior court official.

"Then send Niu Xianke. But Genu, I don't think we can make King Shou the crown prince."

Li Longji suddenly changed the subject and said solemnly.

"Prince Shou is kind and loving. He is the prince's first choice. Your Majesty, please think twice."

Li Linfu crossed his hands and saluted calmly, unable to tell what was going on in his heart.

"That's all, let's discuss this later. What you told me last time was that Wang Zhongsi had a close relationship with King Zhong, so it was inconvenient for him to be the general of the left army of the Longwu Army. I have thought about it these past two days and think you are right. reason.

So I transferred him from Chang'an to serve in the Chishui Army. What do you think? "

Li Longji asked freely and freely while stroking the warm spring water with his palm.

"Wei Chen has no objection. This is a very good move."

Li Linfu smiled and saluted.

"Fang Youde wrote a letter, suggesting that Wu Zhiyi be the general of the Longwu Army Zuojun, what do you think?"

Li Longji asked again.

"Wei Chen believes that Li Shizhi, the censor Zhongcheng, can take over the post of Wu Zhiyi and Pinglu Jiedushi."

"Well, I think so too, then you are responsible for drafting the imperial edict."

After dealing with the government affairs, Li Longji waved his hands wearily. Li Linfu left Tangchi after getting dressed, and returned to Chang'an by carriage without any delay.

Inadvertently, he had driven Huangfu Weiming, Wang Zhongsi, Niu Xianke, and Li Shizhi out of Chang'an.The rest is to use Luoyang Hanjiacang's affairs to slowly cut the flesh with a dull knife.

Now most of the central offices in Chang'an are his people, and Li Longji also tacitly allows people from all walks of life to go on official business and not interfere with Li Linfu's governance.

Repair the canal between Chang'an and Luoyang, reform the existing legal provisions, delete outdated ones, gradually reduce the proportion of rent adjustment in taxation, and gradually increase household tax to make up the difference.

In Li Linfu's mind, he was thinking about one "earth-shattering" event after another.

Renting a mediocre household registration means vacationing more and more every year, and people running away from home become more and more common every year.The more people flee, the more rent problems will be imposed on those who don't flee, and then there will be more people who flee. Anyway, the account books are all fake, and there is nothing the local officials can do.Not every place is a commercial port like Kuizhou, and the difference can be easily made up with commercial taxes.

The country's expenses are also increasing year by year, and the proportion of soldiers listed on the government list is getting smaller and smaller. The Ministry of War's account book no longer uses the term "fubing" to mark the origin of soldiers.Unification is all about words like "Athletes of the Long March" and "Unity".

Even the Longwu Army is not composed of government soldiers.

The military expenditure for recruiting soldiers is at least 1000 million guan a year, accounting for the bulk of the central expenditure, far exceeding the 200 million guan in the early years of Kaiyuan.

Li Linfu was thinking about one trouble after another, and none of them seemed to be easy to solve.

"The saint's stall is too big."

In the carriage, Li Linfu couldn't help but sigh.

……

In Luoyang City, heavy snow fell one by one.

At this moment, Zheng Shuqing stood in front of this magnificent granary, feeling complicated in his heart.I was full of bitterness and didn't know who to have an attack with.

Because Zheng Shuqing found out that he seemed to be tricked by Li Longji or Li Linfu, but he couldn't save the situation.

Fortunately, it is winter now, not the season for harvesting food, so there is still time to think of a solution.If he still can't think of a good solution by early next summer, then he, the Minister of Household Affairs, will really be in trouble!
Hanjiacang was the largest granary of the Tang Dynasty. At its peak, it stored half of the national grain reserves of the Tang Dynasty.

It is indeed a giant granary that is so powerful that it is unrivaled in the world, at least it used to be, even ten or even five years ago, but now it is mostly empty.

When Zheng Shuqing came, Li Linfu said that it was enough to check the inventory of the grain depot and not to worry about anything else.As a result, after those officials were investigated and dealt with, the task of transporting grain to Hanjiacang fell on him, the Minister of Household Affairs and the transport envoy!

Originally, the management of Hanjiacang was mutually restrictive, with Sinong Temple as the main one, supervised by the guards of the prison gate and Yushitai. It was Sinongqing's final procuratorate, and it was not Zheng Shuqing's turn to intervene.

But now Huangfu Weiming, the former Secretary of Agriculture, has been transferred to Longyou to take up a military position, leading the battle against Tubo.

A leader is missing.

Coupled with the transfer, this official position was newly established not long ago to integrate the operations of different departments.So this pot was taken over by Zheng Shuqing.

If it were an ordinary granary, it would be fine to think of a way to fool it.But Hanjiacang is different. It is too big and too important to be taken lightly.

Hanjiacang is located in Luoyang City, the eastern capital of the Tang Dynasty. It is a small town with a gate, named "Hanjia City".

Its warehouse city is rectangular, surrounded by high walls.Among them, the north and south city walls are 615 meters long, the east and west walls are 725 meters long, the wall width is 15 to 17 meters, and the wall height is 1 to 6.5 meters. The city area is about 43 square meters, with amazing reserves!
Even if it is only [-] to [-]% of the maximum reserves, the food reserves are still a terrifying astronomical figure.

Before Pei Yaoqing changed the route to Tongji Canal, the transshipment centers of the North and South Canals were Hanjiacang in Luoyang.All grain and grass from Jianghuai and Jiangnan must be stored in Hanjiacang and then transported by land to Chang'an.

Datang opened a separate "Chi Road" between Chang'an and Luoyang, which was specially responsible for transporting grain and fodder to Guanzhong.

However, the situation in Hanjiacang is not as simple as ordinary people think.The main reason for the lack of food in the warehouse this time is not official malfeasance.

There is no granary in the world that can supply the world for a hundred years. Those are the delusions of people who don’t know the inside story.

In fact, the granary has a very critical and hidden data, which prevents it from existing alone.It is precisely because of this that Hanjiacang is in today's situation.

The key data is that all food has a shelf life, and this shelf life is not long compared to the life of the dynasty.

Hanjiacang is an underground granary. When it was first built, it was built to the highest standards. The shelf life of the stored grain is also long, but it means that "in a dry place, millet can be stored for 9 years and rice for 5 years; in a humid and warm place, millet can be stored for 5 years." 3 years, rice is kept for [-] years.”

The system of the granary is to bring forth the new through the old. If the water transportation does not go to Luoyang, then the Hanjia warehouse will inevitably be empty. It is as simple and straightforward as that.

If the food is not transported away, the expiration date is approaching, and it can only be sold in Luoyang on the spot.The granary is only responsible for the storage of grain, and there are other people in the government's disaster relief and collection and purchase of grain.

It seems that everyone is responsible, and it seems that no one has done anything wrong, and it becomes a bad debt in the end.

In front of Zheng Shuqing, the censor of Hanjiacang prison and the history of Oshicang didn't even dare to show their anger.As long as the transporter sends a memorial, they will be finished immediately.

"Is there anything you two can teach me?"

Zheng Shuqing looked at the two people who didn't dare to raise their heads and asked with a sigh.

"Shilang Zheng, back then Xianggong changed the water transportation channel, but the rules for the operation of Hanjiacang remained the same as before. Now the grain has gone to Heyin Granary over Biankou, and there is nothing we can do."

The gray-haired prison censor said with a sigh.

Everyone knows that Biankou has become a new transshipment place, with piles of grain.But no one was willing to take the initiative and proposed abandoning Hanjiacang, which has been operating for a century, and abandoning this giant national strategic reserve warehouse.

Li Linfu asked Zheng Shuqing to find a way to "restore blood" to Hanjiacang within a few years, filling at least half of the granary.

And while doing this, it is necessary to continue to transport grain to the "proprietary grain depot" outside Chang'an City to supply Hexi military supplies.

What is going on!

Zheng Shuqing had no idea at all, and he couldn't produce food!

"I have already written a memorial to the saint, and I will not be able to complete the government's decree by then, but I will drag you to finish together.

The most I can do is to dismiss from office. The lack of food in Hanjiacang was found out by this official, and I have no responsibility.But what will happen to you in the end, go back and think about it yourself. "

Zheng Shuqing flicked his cuffs, turned around and got on the bullock cart.

Do you want to use the Hebu method?

He pondered over those conventional methods in his mind, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that he would die a miserable death in the end.

(End of this chapter)