Early Tang Dynasty: forge ahead

Chapter 558: The Pearl of Wisdom is in Hand
Chang'an Secretariat.

Chen Qingsi was handling official business at his desk, and below him there were two young men who were also working hard and writing furiously.

There are only three people in the huge office of the Minister of the Secretariat.

"Mr. Chen! Doctor Yuan from the Ministry of Rites wants to see you!"

Chen Qingsi raised his head. He looked calm and stern as he held great power. When he heard Doctor Yuan asking for an audience, a smile flashed across his face and he said, "Let him in."

Doctor Yuan's real name is Yuan Shuji. He is a descendant of the Yuan family of Runan and a very capable scholar. In history, he was one of the five kings who launched the Shenlong coup and overthrew Wu Zetian. Now he is a doctor in the Ministry of Rites.

Yuan Shuji strode into the store, looking quite proud. The Runan Yuan family had long been in decline during the Three Kingdoms period, and had almost fallen out of the ranks of the aristocratic families in the early Tang Dynasty. But when he came here, he was supported and valued by Chen Qingsi, and it was time to restore the Yuan family.

Yuan Shuji was extremely attentive and serious about the tasks assigned by Chen Qingsi, striving to achieve perfection so as not to disappoint him and to prove his own worth.

"Yuan Zhen, please sit down and let Doctor Yuan take care of you."

Chen Qingsi shouted to the youngest young man below.

The youngest youth was called Guo Yuanzhen, who was a successful candidate in this imperial examination. When Chen Qingsi saw the name, he arranged him to work by his side as a handyman and made him a key training target.

Guo Yuanzhen is still young this year, only seventeen years old, but he is a well-known young genius. In history, he passed the imperial examination at the age of eighteen and became a county lieutenant. Now, due to the changes in the imperial examination system, he passed the imperial examination one year earlier than in history.

Guo Yuanzhen was a smart and hardworking person. He quickly prepared a mat for Yuan Shuji to sit on.

Yuan Shuji sat down obediently.

Chen Qingsi then asked calmly, "What was the result of this trip to the south?"

Yuan Shuji knelt, then stood up, clasped his fists and said loudly, "Reporting to Prime Minister Chen, I have fulfilled my mission. The ministers and others have been sent to the southern countries, and they are all grateful for our grain trade and have agreed to all our requests. When I returned, the merchant ships had already transported back 8 million dan of grain, including 5 million dan of new grain. After discussion, they will be able to provide the court with at least 3 million dan of grain every year."

"Thanks for your hard work!"

Chen Qingsi was not surprised to hear this, but was filled with joy. He said, "We will use half of the five million dan of grain to fill the vacancies in the charity granary a few days ago, and transport the rest to the Luoyang granary for storage."

As soon as Chen Qingsi finished speaking, the pressure on him eased a lot.

Chen Qingsi is now in power, but he did not choose to be like Cao Cao or Wang Mang, and there are still some voices of opposition in the temple.

When Chen Qingsi called on the grain from the charity granary to support the front line, it caused quite a bit of dispute. Even the Qingliu faction expressed opposition, thinking that using the grain from the charity granary would cause too much harm if the weather was not good.

Once natural disasters or man-made disasters occur, if the imperial court lacks the means to provide relief, it will cause incalculable consequences. Starvation and rampant disaster victims are only the mildest consequences.

In such chaos, as long as a figure like Chen Sheng or Zhang Jue appears and raises his arm to call for action, there will be people who respond and follow him.

Wasn’t that what happened during the Chen Shuozhen uprising back then?
Just a small-scale flood caused a peasant uprising of hundreds of thousands.

People cannot predict whether God will bring disasters, and the charity granary is the minimum standard of protection. If the charity granary is empty, even if the court wants to allocate supplies from other places, it will take time to arrange and raise them.

This is not the 21st century, where a phone call, a truck, a train or even a plane can get all the supplies ready in three to five days.

Not to mention the imperial court's arrangement of material dispatch, just establishing communications between the two sides would have resulted in a large number of deaths.

Chen Qingsi used the grain from the charity granary, and many people said that he did not care about the lives of the people. But in fact, the use was just a temporary measure. He had already sent officials from the Ministry of Rites to Champa, Zhenla, Siam, Srivijaya and other countries to discuss grain trade issues.

The geographical environment of Southeast Asia is more suitable for growing grains. Compared with the two crops a year in Jiangnan, many places in Southeast Asia can even grow two or three crops a year. Through trade with them, we can make up for some gaps.

When they were clearing out the Arab merchants in Yangzhou, they seized a large number of Arab merchant ships, which came in handy.

Yuan Shuji agreed loudly.

Chen Qingsi said softly, "Go down and rest for two days, then sort out the situation of this mission and report it to me."

Yuan Shuji said: "I don't feel tired when serving the country. Tomorrow I will report in detail the situation of this trip and the exchanges with various countries."

"Good!" Chen Qingsi nodded in approval. He had to admit that people like Yuan Shuji who had left a great name in history were really useful. The results of training them would be far more effective than promoting a talented person who had been abandoned in the opposition.

After Yuan Shuji left, a respectful and somewhat ashamed voice came from below: "It turns out that Prime Minister Chen was well prepared. I am ashamed that I have misunderstood you."

Chen Qingsi said: "It's okay..."

Then he said in a pretentious tone: "I have no regrets."

These few simple words made the young man feel awe-inspiring and even more ashamed.

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Guo Yuanzhen whispered, "I told you, Brother Yuanzhi is worrying about nothing."

The young man's surname was Yao, and his given name was Chong, which was exactly the Yao in Yao Songli, the Kaiyuan Prime Minister who was as famous as Fang and Du in Zhenguan. He was a Jinshi three years ago, and was promoted by Chen Qingsi to serve as Chen Qingsi's assistant in the Secretariat.

Yao Chong was a free and easy person who valued integrity and was extremely talented, but he was also a bit stubborn and opinionated.

He also felt that Chen Qingsi was wrong in the matter of requisitioning grain from the charity granary and raised some suggestions.

However, no one in the Tang Dynasty opposed Chen Qingsi's decision, not even the emperor. Yao Chong was only Chen Qingsi's assistant in the Secretariat, and his position was not high. He only assisted him in handling miscellaneous affairs, and he could not influence the decision, so he could only keep it to himself.

Only now did I realize that my boss was a wise man.

After hearing what Guo Yuanzhen said, Yao Chong could only respond sullenly.

Chen Qingsi saw the situation of the two and smiled gently.

This is also the difference between the two. Guo Yuanzhen doesn’t really believe that Chen Qingsi has a backup plan, but he doesn’t think that the lives of the people are lives.

Guo Yuanzhen was the kind of person who didn't know good from evil. In history, he became famous at a young age and became a county lieutenant at the age of 18. However, during his tenure, he did all kinds of bad things. Corruption and bribery were trivial matters. He even minted private money and sold people. Beheading was not an exaggeration. But he was really talented. Lun Qinling, the biggest victim of the Tang Dynasty, died under his alienation plan. Moreover, after being reused, he changed his absurd behavior in his early years. When he governed Liangzhou, he was deeply respected by the local people of all ethnic groups, so that cattle and sheep were everywhere under his rule, and no one picked up lost items on the road. The same is true for the Protector General Andong. He has guarded the border for many years and is good at construction and appeasement. He has no outstanding military achievements, but he can turn war into peace and surrender the soldiers of the Turks and Tubo without fighting, so that the border is free from war...

However, Yao Chong had certain beliefs in his heart, so he could not understand.

But there is no doubt that both of them are great talents second only to Di Renjie.

Chen Qingsi no longer paid attention to the two people with very different personalities and continued to work at his desk.

Until we received news of a great victory from the Western Regions...

(End of this chapter)