Late Tang

At the beginning of June in Xiantong 15, the summer harvest season in the north came, but the fields were already dry and cracked, and some cracks could sink your feet.The crops in the field have long since died of drought.

Chang'an Imperial City, Tai Chi Palace Tai Chi Hall.

The young emperor finally didn't go to bat or cockfight today, but came to Tai Chi Hall to participate in the Grand Court Meeting.Although the emperor was playing with the famine, he had not been in the court for a long time, but he did not dare to cancel the two grand court meetings on the first and fifteenth day of each month, and still maintained them.

"If you have something to play, leave the court if you have nothing to do!" A eunuch shouted in that shrill voice as soon as he came up.

The ministers below couldn't help but frown slightly. There are so many things to do in this grand court meeting, and it usually lasts for several hours.In the past, although the emperor said that he didn't care about political affairs, he only attended the court meeting as a show, but after all, he would still play a show.It's good now, as soon as he came in and sat down, he shouted to retreat.

Among the ministers below, Lu Xie took the lead and held up the ivory wat board to play: "Your Majesty first came to the great treasure, and you should remember Li Yuan deeply. The people in a country are like the roots of grass and trees. If you cultivate them in autumn and winter, they will grow Prosperity in spring and summer. I saw the drought in Kanto last year. From Guo to the sea, the wheat was only half harvested. There were few autumn crops, but at least winter vegetables. If you don't live all year round, you will disperse to the neighbors. Today, everyone is hungry and has nothing to rely on. They sit and guard the villages and wait for the ravines to be exhausted. They are exempt from the remaining taxes, and there is really nothing to collect. But the prefectures and counties have the upper offerings and the three divisions. , The supervisor is very anxious, and moves like a hammer. Although the house is evacuated to cut wood, and the wife and children are hired, only the expenses for food and drink are provided for, but they have not been paid to the treasury. In addition to rent and taxes, there are other burials. If the court does not The common people really have no livelihood. Beg the prefectures and counties to pay the remaining taxes owed, and suspend all collection of silkworm wheat. It is still sent to the charity storehouse, and urgently add relief. After late autumn, there are vegetable leaves and wooden teeth, followed by Mulberry fruit is gradually becoming edible. In the past few months, it is especially embarrassing, and we cannot delay it."

These words were extremely excited, but they were all true today.

Li Xuan felt drowsy after listening to such a long speech. Last night he played chess with the palace servants until midnight, and now he woke up before dawn. He yawned suddenly after listening to such a long speech while sitting here. Again and again.After Lu Xie finished speaking, he didn't understand what he said.

Immediately waved his hand and said: "Zhun Aiqing played!"

Tian Lingzi immediately said: "Your Majesty, the national treasury is now empty, and the Southwest is constantly using troops, but Wang Jingwu, the Ya general of Ziqing Town, rebelled. Song Wei's earlier request for soldiers to withdraw food and money has not yet been approved. Exemption of summer grain, although this is sympathetic to the people of Li, it does not depend on the situation of the court. If it is exempted, then the salaries of the officials in Chang'an and the 10,000+ food and salaries of the soldiers of the Shence Army will have nowhere to go. "

At this time, Li Xuan finally understood what the following ministers said. Lu Xie said that the people were sad about the famine, and Tian Lingtian said that the court’s wealth was insufficient. Harvest, summer harvest is endless, but as far as I know, Dengzhou where Li Jing is located belongs to the Henan Province of Shandong Province, why Li Jing was able to donate a million guan to me before, and just now escorted [-] stone salt and ten Wanshi's food and many other tributes are worth millions. Isn't Li Jing in Henan Province?"

Lu Xie was blocked there by the emperor, and just about to speak, the emperor said again: "I think it's a question of the loyalty of the subordinates, not a question of whether there will be a famine or not."

Tian Lingzi immediately asked for a speech and said: "Your Majesty is wise, then Li Jing really has the ability that others cannot. At present, the imperial court's financial resources are tight, but the disasters are indeed serious in all parts of the world. I think that your majesty can temporarily exempt the affected places from expropriation In addition, the arrears can also be suspended first. In addition, the righteous warehouses in various places should also be opened according to what Lu Xianggong said, and the disaster will be relieved."

Li Xuan said a little unhappy: "The disaster victims want to eat, so why don't I not eat, and my officials and guards don't want to eat?"

"Don't worry, Your Majesty, there is a plan to solve the imperial court's emergency."

"Duke Jin, please tell me."

The corner of Tian Lingzi's mouth twitched a few times, and he said with a smile: "Your Majesty also said just now that when the rest of the world was in a famine, Li Jing was still able to pay tribute with a million dollars. This is the second million dollars this year. I paid tribute. I think Li Jing’s jurisdiction is less than a state, but he has such output. It’s really admirable. Now Li Jing is appointed as the governor of Andong, and Song Wei, the commander of Ziqing Festival, has been promoted to Li Jing as the governor of Dengzhou. I think that those who are capable will have to bear more burdens, which is also to let him be loyal to His Majesty."

"The minister suggested that Li Jing should be added to Liao's sea salt and iron transport envoy. The minister heard that Li Jing's tribute salt is all self-produced. Although the salt is sea salt, it can be made of snow white grains and dry. It is better than Huai salt, not even better than Huai salt. The Qingsalt Poor in the northwest. The imperial court can just transfer the salt and iron to Li Jing. In this way, Li Jing can not only produce salt, but also transport salt. As long as Li Jing can produce a million stones of salt per year, the imperial court will A bucket of salt earns ten renminbi, and it can be sold for 110 renminbi. A bucket of salt can earn a hundred renminbi, a stone can earn a penny, and a million yuan can make a profit of a million guan. If the production of salt is 100 million guan, it can be 100 million guan, and 200 million guan. That is, the imperial court simply handed over the sale of salt to Li Jing, and asked Li Jing to hand it in every year in the future, and handed in 200 million guan every year. In this way, the imperial court will not have to worry about the wealth."

The ministers in the palace couldn't help being shocked, thinking that Li Jing didn't know where he offended Tian Lingzi.200 million guan a year, although the salt profit is huge, it is not a small sum.Although the Salt and Iron Envoy is also in charge of ore and tea, except for copper, iron, tin and lead in Datang, private mining is prohibited, and the rest of gold, silver and other ores can be mined by private individuals.The annual mining tax in Datang was only 10,000+ guan, and since the mid-Tang Dynasty, the tea tax has increased, and the tea tax is half, and it is only 200 million guan a year.But this is still the whole country, and Li Jing's current Liaohai salt and iron transfer envoy is just Li Jing's own territory.Except for one Dengzhou, Liaodong is only a nominal territory.

Yu Cong knew in his heart that the eunuch was stimulated by the emperor wanting Li Jing to bring the Zhendong Army into Beijing last time, and at this time, he had to help Li Jing.Then he went out and said: "Chen Qizuo, since the envoy of Tian Privy Council thinks that Li Jing can relieve the court's worries, why not add more burdens. I think that the envoy of Liaohai salt and iron transfer should transfer Ziqing Town and Andong Dufu The Liaodong area under Li Jing’s jurisdiction is under the jurisdiction of Li Jing. And according to the usual practice, salt and iron transfer envoys generally add coin envoys, and the imperial court can simply ask Li Jing to cast copper, tin, lead, etc. mined in the territory. "

"All right, add Li Jing to the Liaohai salt and iron transfer envoy to cast money, Li Jing will send 300 million yuan to the imperial court every year in the future!" Li Xuan said immediately.

Tian Lingzi wanted to say that the money was too little, but seeing that the emperor had already spoken, he had no choice but to stop.

After the end of the Tianchaohui, the emperor issued an order to the local governments to open warehouses to release grain to relieve disasters, and to suspend the collection of taxes owed in the past, and this year's summer tax collection will also be stopped.In addition, eunuchs were sent to Dengzhou to announce the decree to Li Jing, and Li Jing was added as an envoy for Liaohai salt and iron transfer and coin casting.

After the emperor's decree came down to the states, the people were very happy at first.But after a few days of being happy, I found that the government refused to open warehouses to shake up grain at all, and summer grain was still being collected.Many people broke their homes and paid taxes, and some who couldn't afford it began to flee the local area and joined the army of refugees.

Weicheng, Huazhou, Henan Province.

Weicheng is the county seat of Changyuan County, which is at the junction of Pu, Hua and Cao states.To the north is the Yellow River, to the south is the canal, to the west the canal meets the Yellow River, and to the east is Jushuze.

More than 200 years ago, there were several well-known figures in Weicheng, that is, Zhai Rang, Shan Xiongxin and other generals of the peasant army in the late Sui Dynasty.And Wagang is not far from the southeast of Weicheng.

At this time, many people gathered in a large manor outside Changyuan County.In the middle of the hall, sat a seven-foot tall man with a thick back, bronze skin, and sharp eyes. It was obvious at a glance that he was a man with good martial arts skills.

This person is Wang Xianzhi, the most famous salt dealer in Puzhou, and the ten big men sitting below him are the ten bosses of his salt selling group, known as the ten votes handsome.

Shang Junchang, Chai Cun, Bi Shiduo, Cao Shixiong, Liu Yanzhang, Liu Hanhong, Li Chongba, Cai Wenqiu, Chu Yanwei, Wang Chongyin.

Each of them is a well-known hero in Puzhou, and even Wang Xianzhi's sworn brothers. Among them, Shangli Shangjun is Wang Xianzhi's right-hand man, the number two in this group.Shang Shangrang heard a new kind of salt produced in Shamen Town, Dengzhou, with excellent quality.Immediately, he rushed to Dengzhou to discuss a deal with Li Jing.But he never expected that Li Jing would tie him up without saying a word.First sent to Dengzhou, then escorted all the way to Qingzhou, then sent to Yanzhou, and finally sent back to Puzhou, almost beheaded.Fortunately, Wang Xianzhi and his brothers did not forget their friendship, and finally robbed the execution ground in Puzhou and rescued him.

However, after robbing the court, Puzhou couldn't stay any longer. They abandoned the Puzhou territory that they had been operating for many years, and finally fled all the way to Weicheng, Changyuan County, Huazhou.In the past few months, they have been carefully hiding here.Although the wind is getting weaker now, it can be regarded as having avoided this catastrophe.

But everyone's life is not easy, Wang Xianzhi and others secretly transferred away the family property in Puzhou before the catastrophe.But they dragged their families and children, and they all had a group of brothers, and now they were all hiding in several manors in Changyuan County.He is free and unrestrained on weekdays, but now he has to hide in a small manor all day long. This life is impossible.What's more, even private salt dealers like Wang Xianzhi couldn't bear to sit and eat all day long.

Shang Junchang took the lead and said: "If this continues, we will have no way out!"

Wang Xianzhi stared at this group of subordinates, they used to live and die with him, drink in large bowls, and divide gold and silver in large scales, but now they are hiding in Tibet all day, like a mouse in a hole, such a life is too unbearable.

"Wang Jingwu of Qingzhou has rebelled. Now Ziqi is fighting every day. Hong Balang of Dizhou has been recruited by Wang Jingwu and has already surrendered. Hong Balang has obtained an official position as a soldier and horse envoy. Now he is following Wang Jingwu to defeat Song Wei, the commander of the Pinglu Army. , It’s so majestic. Brother, why don’t we go against each other and go to Wang Jingwu.” Bi Shiduo said.

Shangjun shook his head and said: "Right now there are years of famines, and the people can't afford to eat. Although the imperial court issued an order to exempt taxes and open righteous warehouses to release grain. However, the governments in various places ignore the order of the emperor and still impose taxes and taxes. Refuse to open warehouses to release grain. Now that people from all over the country are fleeing, this is an excellent opportunity. My brothers and I are all heroes, so why should we go to others. Why don't we just raise the pole and pick the flag by ourselves, and turn against his mother."

"Second brother is right, isn't there a saying that the princes and generals are better than each other?" Chai Cun also said, "His mother hides in the manor every day like this, you can bear it, I can't bear it gone."

"It's the other way around!" Several people shouted loudly.

"Brother, just wait for your word. If you say against it, we will all follow you!" Bi Shiduo and the others' words clearly meant that if Wang Xianzhi refused to rebel, then they would rebel against themselves.

Wang Xianzhi glanced at the brothers below. He knew that it was time for him to express his opinion, and he must express his opinion at this time. Otherwise, even brothers who have been brothers for many years, these people would definitely not want to continue to hide like this.

"Reverse!" Wang Xianzhi set the tone as soon as he opened his mouth, and after seeing everyone's satisfied expressions, he slowly said: "However, we have to discuss carefully how to rebel. After everything is prepared, we will make a decision before moving."

"Listen to the elder brother, just do what the elder brother and the second brother say."