A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 870: The Emperor and His Ministers Request to Resign, Their Minds Are Different and They Take on Difficult Matters

In the palace hall, Bai Jing stood respectfully before the emperor, while Li Heng sat on the throne, but he did not dare to look down on the man in the hall.

"Your Majesty, I am here to escort the taxes and to convey my father's respect to Your Majesty. I, Bai Jing, on behalf of my father, Duke Bai, come to pay my respects to Your Majesty and wish Your Majesty a long life."

As he spoke, Bai Jing presented Li Heng with great courtesy, showing the Bai family's respect for the imperial court.

"Good, very good. I am fine. Please also convey my intentions to the Duke. I hope that the Li and Bai families will be in harmony forever and work together to build the Tang Dynasty and go down in history."

"I thank Your Majesty on behalf of my father."

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Li Heng looked at Bai Jing who did not take the initiative to say goodbye, guessing that he must have something else to do, so he had to speak:

"My dear, you probably have something else to do."

"Your Majesty is wise and wise. I would like to resign from the post of Hedong Duzhi Transport Commissioner."

Hearing this, Li Heng frowned, then smiled and said, "My dear, smile."

But seeing that Bai Jing did not respond, he said unhappily: "Is there something I have not done well? Why did you resign from the post of Hedong Duzhi Transport Envoy?"

"It's not your Majesty's fault. It's my own fault. First of all, I am indeed a little old and dizzy. It's difficult for me to take on such an important position as the Duzhi Transport Commissioner."

"Secondly, my father is already over seventy years old this year. I want to return home to take care of him, so I am naturally unable to take on this position."

"Third, the family has to collect the remains of the members who died in the war and bury them. I have limited energy and cannot spare more energy."

After hearing this, Li Heng nodded slightly, indicating that he understood, and then asked: "After you leave, who will take over this position?"

Bai Jing glanced at Li Heng briefly, then bowed his head and said, "My younger brother, Bai Duan, has a good reputation and can take over this position."

"Yes." As long as Bai's son takes over the post of Hedong Duzhishi and continues to pay Hedong taxes to the court every year, it means that Bai is not betraying the court.

"Yes." Li Heng immediately decided to let Bai Jing's younger brother, Bai Duan, take over the post of Hedong Duzhi Transport Envoy, who would be fully responsible for the collection, transportation, and storage of money and grain in the Hedong area.

Just when Li Heng thought that the matter was over and was about to return to the palace, Bai Jing hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth and decided to remind him.

"His Majesty."

Li Heng said impatiently, "What else do you want, my dear?"

"Your Majesty, have you heard that there is a severe drought in Guanzhong and the people have nothing to eat?"

Before Li Heng could react, the powerful eunuch Li Fuguo who was standing beside him immediately knelt down in front of him and said:

"Your Majesty, please forgive me for my crime. Two days ago, a document was submitted from the local government, but I saw that Your Majesty was worried about the situation in Hebei, so I took the initiative to postpone it. This crime is my fault."

Bai Jing looked at Li Fuguo, who was kneeling on the ground not far away and couldn't get up. He felt his temples throbbing and thought to himself, "None of the eunuchs are good."

Upon hearing this, Li Heng did not make a decision immediately. He looked at Li Fuguo who was lying on the ground, and then at Bai Jing who was bowing his head respectfully. A gleam of light flashed in his eyes for a moment.

"Such an important matter cannot be delayed. If a large number of people are killed or injured due to drought, you will not be able to get rid of your nine heads."

"Yes, I am terrified."

"Get out of here now or I'll fine you one year's salary."

After scolding Li Fuguo, Li Heng turned to look at Bai Jing, a little embarrassed and said: "I made you laugh at me, my dear minister. I am not strict with my family."

Bai Jing just bowed and said nothing. "Ahem, my dear minister, you don't know, but how can I not know about the drought? These people are all my subjects, but even a skilled cook cannot cook without rice. Now the rebels in Hebei are rampant, and all the money and grain in the treasury have been invested in the army in Luoyang to suppress the rebellion. Where is the money left for disaster relief?"

"What does your majesty mean?"

"I know that the Bai family is the richest in the world, and their family has been passed down for thousands of years. I'm afraid their wealth and treasures are more than my inner treasury. You see, now is the time when the country is in danger, and the people are like lambs crying for food. I want to borrow some money and food from the Bai family to help the country. What do you think?"

Bai Jing raised his head again and looked at Li Heng who was sitting on the throne. The expectant look in his eyes was like that of a cunning wealthy businessman, not at all like that of a king of a country or the ruler of the world.

After a little thought, Bai Jing had to nod in agreement. However, he was not a lamb to be slaughtered at will, and he could not let the court reap all the benefits.

"The Bai family can contribute some money and grain, not only for the people in Guanzhong and the Tang Dynasty, but also for the Bai family members in Guanzhong."

"However, they are not only members of the Bai family, but also your Majesty's subjects. After all, I am contributing to the relief efforts in your Majesty's name, so it would be unreasonable for your Majesty not to contribute at all."

Li Heng stood up and paced back and forth for two rounds. He seemed to have thought of something and said:

"Aren't you going to collect the bodies of all the clansmen in the world? You are right. They are not only the clansmen of your Bai clan, but also my people."

"And in this turmoil, not only your Bai clan members were persecuted, the rest of the people were not much better off."

"Emperor Taizong issued four decrees to bury corpses all over the country. As Taizong's son, I should follow his example."

"In this way, I appoint you as the ambassador for the burial of the dead in Guanzhong and Henan, and send some more officials to accompany you on your missions to Guanzhong, Henan and other places. At the same time, I order the local officials to assist you in burying the bodies of the people lost in the wild to ease my heart."

"As for the drought in Guanzhong, I have decided to allocate 100 million coins from the Daying Treasury to purchase food and provide relief to the victims. What do you think, my dear minister?"

Since Li Longji, the emperor's private treasury has two, namely the Left Treasury and the Right Treasury, collectively known as the Inner Treasury, among which the Left Treasury Daying Treasury is the largest.

During the reign of Emperor Li Longji, Yang Guozhong served as the envoy of Dayingku, where he amassed enormous wealth. In addition, all the treasures and wealth from all over the world were gathered there, with no less than one hundred trillion copper coins.

However, after Chang'an fell, most of the money in Dayingku was seized by the rebels.

Now Li Heng re-established the Dayingku and appointed Diwu Qi, who was good at financial management, as the Director of the Salt and Iron Department. He implemented the salt monopoly system, nationalized salt and iron, prohibited private trading, and together with taxes from all over the country, collected all the wealth in the world.

Considering Li Heng's character of wanting to break a copper coin into two pieces, being able to pay so much money was already a great mercy.

"Okay." Bai Jing had no choice but to accept Li Heng's conditions. After all, with official endorsement, it would be much easier for him to do things his way.

"Your servant Bai Jing accepts your order."

Afterwards, Li Heng issued an edict, ordering Bai Jing to be the ambassador for the collection of remains in Guanzhong and Henan, as well as the ambassador for disaster relief in Guanzhong, to collect corpses in the mountains and provide relief to the victims in Guanzhong.

After returning to the Bai Mansion, Bai Jing couldn't help but have a headache about what to do next. He had to preside over the burial of the corpses, hire eminent monks to preside over the rituals, and travel to various places to purchase relief grain and supervise the destination of the relief grain to prevent it from being embezzled by his subordinates.

Fortunately, before leaving, Bai Qing assigned him some clerks and brought some family members, and the emperor also sent some officials. Otherwise, even if he had a clone, he would not be able to handle it.

"If I had known earlier, I would have accepted all those family members when I was in Songxi."

At this time, Bai Jing missed those disciples who were eliminated from the training team by him.

Just when Bai Jing was worried about not having anyone to use, Bai Ming came to report: "Father, there is a man outside the door who claims to be Du Fu, and he wants to see him."

Bai Jing's eyes lit up and he said happily, "Please come in."

(End of this chapter)