The best idlers of the Tang Dynasty

It had just cleared up for one day, and then it started to rain again, and it lasted for three days. The Longshou Canal, which was about to be repaired, not only failed to be completed on time, but also because of the flooding downstream, many farmlands on both sides of the Jingwei River were destroyed. , the houses were washed away, and the people of Li suffered a lot.

The water transportation has not been repaired, which is good news for those merchants who hoard a lot of grain, but for the East Palace, it is a great disaster.

Li Chengqian anxiously paced back and forth in the palace, while Jiang Bai, Hu Cheng, Henglian and others stood aside, all with bitter faces.Jiang Bai reported to Li Chengqian apologetically. He sent people to investigate along the river all night, and the matter finally became clear. It turned out that there was a small hole in the Dragon King Temple in the lower reaches of Huazhou. This opening destroyed more than 100 feet at once, so even though the western opening was blocked, the Longshou Canal was still blocked.

When Li Chengqian heard the words, his face turned pale with shock: "More than 100 feet? How long will it take to block it?"

Jiang Bai replied: "It's close to the main road of the Weihe River, and the mouth is wide. I'm afraid it will take a month or two."

Jiang Bai's answer was like a thunderclap, Li Chengqian sat down slumped, he was already panicked.

These days, the food in Nancang was coming out very quickly, and by the day before yesterday, there were only [-] shi left.Everyone is like this. It is the most difficult to take the first step when doing risky things, but after taking this step and tasting the sweetness, you will not look back.Seeing boxes and boxes of money coming in, Li Chengqian got carried away. He heard the rumor that the water transport was going to be repaired. The price of rice dropped for two days in a row, so he asked Hu Cheng to take the remaining [-] shi from the Nancang. The rice will be sold soon.Hu Cheng originally wanted to suppress the one hundred thousand stones and not make a move no matter what, but he couldn't beat Li Chengqian who was eager for success, so he had to do so in the end.By this morning, there were only seven or eight thousand stones left in the warehouse.

But at this time, the Ministry of Household and the Ministry of War came with official documents, asking Taicang to immediately ship [-] shi of military rations to Jingzhou. Hu Cheng was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, and kept urging: "His Royal Highness, the Ministry of Household and the Ministry of War There is no need to delay the matter, not to mention that this batch of grain is distributed to Chai Shao. If it cannot be brought out, it will be a big trouble."

Li Chengqian understood what he meant, Chai Shao had always been very close to Li Ke, the king of Shu, and if he missed his army rations, the consequences would be disastrous.

Li Chengqian sat down dejectedly, and said weakly: "Hu Cheng! You go to the market immediately to see if you can buy a few thousand stones first, as an emergency!"

Hu Cheng shook his head and said: "Your Highness! In today's market, it is easy to sell thousands of shi of grain, but it is difficult to buy it. No matter how expensive the price is, it will be uneven within three to five days. Many big households in Chang'an City have piles of grain. It's like a mountain, but these people are waiting for the price of food and refuse to make a move, and this humble minister is helpless!"

Li Chengqian stomped his feet anxiously when he heard the words, and muttered: "What should I do!"

I was also secretly regretting that I shouldn't have listened to Du Rui's advice at the beginning, but now there is a big mess, if the military rations can't be dealt with, it's not a big deal for him as a prince to be criticized, but if there is a mutiny because of this, he will suffer But this is the world of the Tang Dynasty. Now that the Tang Dynasty has just passed the defeat of Suizhou, it is the time when the body is weak and weak. In this season, there must be no big troubles.

Seeing Li Chengqian's anxious look, Jiang Bai blamed himself again: "This matter is all my fault, it is my minister who harmed His Highness."

Li Chengqian looked at Jiang Bai, knowing that he had been staring at the construction site for the past few days, and he was tired enough, so he couldn't bear to blame him, and said, "Hey, what's the use of talking about it now?"

Jiang Bai thought for a moment, and said: "Your Highness, for the current plan, the military rations at Chai Shao's place cannot be afforded anyway. Once the frontier army is short of food and there is a mutiny, no one can get rid of the big ties. How about this, first allocate a few thousand stones of grain and rice from the Zuo Tunwei Army, and deal with it first. As long as you deal with Chai Shao, don't let them take advantage of it, and there is still room for change in the rest of the matter."

Li Chengqian asked: "The Zuo Tunwei Army is willing to give up food and grass. Besides, all the food has been taken away. What will the troops of the Zuo Tun Guard Army eat?"

Jiang Bai replied: "Wu Qing of the Zuo Tunwei Army has an old relationship with the minister. As long as the minister knows the benefits, food and grass are not a problem. As for what the Zuo Tunwei Army eats, the minister will find a way."

Li Chengqian thought about it, but still felt that it was wrong: "No, the Zuo Tunwei Army is the old department of Prince Yin. In the ninth year of Wude, my father was promoted to the army of the Son of Heaven. How can we deduct their food and rice, in my opinion, it is better to transfer some food and rice from the Six Guards of the East Palace to deal with it!"

Jiang Bai hurriedly said: "Your Highness, no, the six guards of the East Palace are His Royal Highness's pro-army. This season should be more merciful. If their rations are deducted, who will serve His Highness in the future! Zuo Tunwei Army, I will find a way to deal with it myself, and there won't be any big troubles!"

Li Chengqian had no choice but to think about it, so he asked Hu Cheng to follow what Jiang Bai said, and then called a few confidants to tell them not to do anything from now on. Just go to the market to collect grain, and store as much as you can in Nancang for emergency.

Henglian said with some concern: "Your Highness, there is not much good food in Chang'an City right now! It's just food that has been soaked in water, which is prone to mold. This kind of mold is easy to cause trouble."

Li Chengqian said in a crazy voice: "That has to be accepted, I'm afraid there will be no such goods in a few days!"

Soon, Hu Cheng's people arrived at a small granary behind the Zuo Tunwei barracks. Wu Qing personally went to the scene and asked the soldiers guarding the granary to hand over all the thousands of shi stored in the granary.The general standing guard at the gate of the granary asked Wu Qing, "Commander, the grain in the granary has been shipped out, so what shall we eat tomorrow?"

Wu Qing stared, and reprimanded: "What are you talking about, who is the commander here?"

Li Chengqian's side is in a hurry, and Du Rui's side is not idle either. A few days ago, he sent Du Gui out to escort the batches of grain that hadn't been delivered, but now the water transportation is impassable, and the land road is really muddy and difficult Okay, I have only traveled dozens of miles in the past few days, the rain was too heavy yesterday, and the food delivery team was blocked in Huating again.

"Uncle Zhong! Let Pingsheng pass by, and then go to urge, if the food is not available again, it is estimated that there will be a big mess in the next day!"

Du Rui also knew that in recent days, most of the grain that appeared on the market was brought out by Li Chengqian from Nancang, but the Longshou Canal could not be repaired, and the grain and rice from all over the place could not be transported to Chang'an. All the warehouses will be empty, and the military rations in various places will not be able to cope with it, and there will be a mutiny, but it will be impossible to clean up.

Although Du Zhong didn't know why, seeing Du Rui so anxious that he couldn't even sleep these days, he also realized the seriousness of the problem, so he could only go out and call Du Pingsheng, telling him to rush to meet the food delivery team.

After arranging everything, Du Rui also collapsed on the chair helplessly. At this time, he didn't know whether it was right or wrong to assist Li Chengqian so wholeheartedly.

However, although Li Chengqian is a little overjoyed and eager to get things done, he is always gentle and can listen to other people's opinions with an open mind. In addition, he is kind and generous, and he tries his best to treat his subordinates with compassion. He is wise and mighty, but it is not a big problem to be a qualified and conservative king.

Compared with Li Zhi, who handed over his family to Wu Meiniang, and Li Tai, who was mean and ungrateful, Li Chengqian was still much stronger. At least assisting Li Chengqian, Du Rui didn't have to worry about the heroine coming to court in the future, or someone crossing the river and demolishing the bridge.Moreover, after interacting with Li Chengqian during this period of time, the two have similar interests. At this time, he himself is unwilling to let Du Rui change his family.

The rain finally stopped on the fourth day, and Du Pingsheng also rushed back to report that the food would arrive in Chang'an in one day at most. Hearing this news, Du Rui just let go of his worries.

But things are often not as easy as people expected. Just when Du Rui had just received the reward, the last thing he expected to see happened.

In the Chengqing Hall, Emperor Taizong was sitting on the couch and reviewing the documents. Now that the Longshou Canal has broken its embankment and the logistics are different, he, the emperor, is also helpless. In addition, Suizhou has just experienced war, and the people need pensions, which is even more troublesome. Now Taizong could only hope that Li Chengqian would handle the errands well without any major troubles, otherwise, there would be serious troubles.

Thinking back to the previous dynasty, the world was overflowing, and there was so much food in the warehouses and warehouses that we couldn’t finish it. It’s just that the world was in chaos. Up to now, although the two generations of Taizong and his son have worked hard to rule, compared with the previous dynasty’s Kaihuang period, it’s still the same. It's not far off.

Thinking of this, Emperor Taizong also sighed for a while. After approving a document, he said to Wang De beside him: "You go now and pass this order to the prince. Tomorrow, 15 shi of grain will be shipped to Suizhou and Bingzhou. For the two-month cost of 10,000+ people, you must not be careless, let the prince draw people from the six guards of the East Palace, and personally escort them!"

Taizong also had a deep meaning in letting the six guards of the East Palace escort him. Since Li Chengqian returned from his mission to Turkic, he was more satisfied with the prince. Who can really live forever? His country will always be handed over to the prince. In order to lay the foundation for future generations, Taizong now also wants Li Chengqian to make friends with the generals more and pave the way for the future.

Wang De replied cautiously: "I'm going now, old servant."

Wang De was about to go out with the will, but he didn't want to bump into Ma Xuanliang head-on.

Ma Xuanliang also didn't care about talking to Wang De, and hurried in and said, "Your Majesty, something is wrong. There was a big disturbance in the Zuo Tunwei barracks, and the soldiers~~~~~~~ have mutinied."

"What!?" Taizong was startled and wanted to stand up, but a sudden sharp pain in his leg made him fall to the ground again.