Landlord of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 422 Dare to eat
At this time, an applause came from behind Xu Qing: "Well, General Xu is indeed capable of both civil and military skills. Only General Xu can fight such a wonderful battle."

Xu Qing thought to herself, who is this, come here to play a pun?Looking back, he was still an acquaintance, he was really Xu Shiji's son, so was Xu Zhen.Xu Qing waved to the soldiers and said, "Why are you still standing here, what should you do?"

"Here!"

Rows of soldiers ran away in an orderly manner, the footsteps sounded as if there was only one person running, and the posture seemed to be the shadow of one person.Xu Zhen looked at it, his eyes widened. Although he was young, he was an old man in the army. It was obvious whether Xu Qing's soldiers were ostentatious or genuine.

So he cupped his hands to Xu Qing and said, "General Xu's soldiers are really extraordinary..."

Xu Qing didn't dare ask him to return a salute and said: "Little General Xu is over-reputed, I don't know what else to do when you come to my Xuanwu Sect?"

Xu Zhen replied: "Now I am the guard of Xuanfu Gate. The Emperor is hunting in the Forbidden Garden. Let me invite General Xu over to discuss matters."

Xu Qing patted his head, why did this happen again.So he said to Zhuge Yan and Wei Xian who were following him: "You guard the Xuanwu Gate, I will go for a while."

"Here, go ahead, general."

After a while, Xu Qing walked to the Forbidden Garden outside Xuanfu Gate, but saw Li Yuan followed by several cavalry, and there was a large group of cavalry far away.Seeing that Li Yuan had nothing to hunt right away, he just drew his bow. Seeing Xu Qing approaching, his eyes lit up and he hurriedly drove his horse closer.

Li Yuan waved his hand to keep the others away, got off the horse, and walked with Xu Qing and said, "Xu Qing, just as you said, there is a plague of locusts."

Xu Qing asked in a daze: "The plague of locusts? Didn't you say that you want to kill the jumping gnats? Why is there still a plague of locusts?"

Li Yuan smiled wryly and said: "Oh, I have issued an edict ordering those counties to destroy jumping locusts. Who would have imagined that they would dare to follow the law and disobey it. I have no choice but the locust plague has spread to half of the Guanzhong Road, which has alarmed the Daotai. , it was reported to my desk. Now..."

Xu Qing also sighed and said, "The locust plague is [-]% now. Once the locusts can fly, who else can control them? Why don't the people in this place refuse to get rid of the locusts?"

Li Yuan glanced at Xu Qing and said: "One reason is that they think that locusts are sent from heaven, and there are no locusts who can't be offended. Of course, these things are the thoughts of ordinary people. As for the big landlord's family, it is natural I want to wait until the year of the catastrophe and buy some land.”

Xu Qing shook his head and said, "Is there no one to persuade you?"

"Persuasion, persuasion, the court has been arguing for half a month, but when it comes to the place, it is still ruined." At this time, Li Yuan was like a child who did something wrong, powerlessly refuting in front of Xu Qing.That's right, Xu Qing talked about the locusts before he left, and up to now, the plague of locusts still hasn't been stopped.The reason is that some local officials are obedient and violative, and there are also Li Yuan's own useless intentions.

Xu Qing's face turned cold, it seemed that enlightening people's wisdom was imminent.The big families in those places are really abominable, what kind of locust immortal is not a rumor created by them?The purpose is to force the common people to buy and sell land when they are out of reach, and become refugees and black households, so that they can make a lot of money.

Thinking slightly, Xu Qing said to Li Yuan: "It seems that it was our fault to try to persuade them in the first place. Persuasion is impossible, and it is impossible to convince others in this life..."

Li Yuan couldn't help returning: "That's right, convincing them is harder than going to heaven."

Xu Qing pondered for a while and said: "Only by coercion and profit-making can you really convince the public. Your Majesty, there are three strategies available now. First, decree that all land sales in prefectures and counties with locust plagues will only recognize red deeds. No recognition of Bai Qi. Second, the county magistrates and related subordinates who were originally in the local area were dismissed on the spot in the name of disobeying the imperial decree, and escorted back to Beijing. They can be sent to Beijing officials to preside over them. Third, the imperial court paid, While the locust plague is not serious, let people get rid of the insects quickly and save the remaining food. If the water is good these few months, you can still have [-] to [-]% of the income. Buy some rapeseed and teach those counties to grow melons and vegetables , It can also be used for a few grains, and it will last until the autumn grain comes down."

Li Yuan nodded with a smile and said, "I know you have a way. Come and write Xu Qing's words into an imperial decree. You don't have to go through the sect, just let the Minister of the Book execute it."

The eunuch, who was a few steps away, walked up to him and knelt down on the spot to take notes.This eunuch is the eunuch who is the supervisor of ceremonies and holds the pen. He is full of ink, no less than the doctors of Confucian classics outside.Moreover, this eunuch also knows how to figure out the holy will. When the emperor issued the imperial decree, his tone was sometimes light and sometimes serious, whether it was close or distant, it was all different.

But seeing that an imperial edict was completed in one go, Xu Qing took out a seal that he carried with him, and stamped the imperial edict.The eunuch took it to the supervisor of Baoxi, copied several copies, and stamped the jade seal.

Xu Qing said to Li Yuan again: "Those things just now are just emergency measures. But the people's wisdom is hard to come by, and they are lucky. They are far away from the holy grace and close to the slander. After this locust disaster, the people will definitely suffer losses, but they will still Blame this loss on the emperor. They will say that if the locusts are full, maybe they will leave without losing so much."

Li Yuan frowned and said, "Xu Aiqing, I knew you had another solution, didn't you?"

Xu Qing let out a sigh, and with a boss like you at the Xindao booth, I was also drunk.This is like drug resistance. Li Yuan used Xu Qing's brain too much, but his own brain stopped working.However, Xu Qing still made up his mind and said: "Your Majesty, if you enlighten the people's wisdom, it will be too late to preach. However, if you let the people know that locusts are nothing more than small bugs and get rid of their fear, this crisis can be resolved. No matter how big the posture is, , put the responsibility on those local clans, and expose their sinister plots."

Li Yuan coughed and said, "Get rid of your fear? Who doesn't know that locusts are just bugs..."

"Do you dare to eat it?"

"what? What?"

"Your Majesty, do you dare to eat?"

"Eat, what to eat?"

"Eat locusts," Xu Qing grabbed a small insect on the ground and said, "Your Majesty, do you dare to eat this insect?"

Li Yuan took it, looked at it, but couldn't speak.He didn't know what Xu Qing meant, so he asked, "Xu Qing, what does eating bugs have to do with this?"

Xu Qing smiled and said: "The people of Tang Dynasty are afraid of everything, but once it becomes edible, there is nothing to be afraid of. This year, locusts are flooding. If the emperor takes the lead in eating insects, the people will definitely follow suit. Tomorrow, this locust might turn into a rare ingredient like a tiger's whip and bear's paw!"

"You, what you said is indeed reasonable. If this is true, there will be no more locusts in New Year's greetings in the future, but..." Li Yuan looked at the insects in his hand and said with a bitter face: "This is too difficult to enter, my lord. Order, let you take the lead to eat one? You are the number one talented person in Chang'an, young people listen to you..."

(End of this chapter)