Wentang

Chapter 501 Relief with Work
"As we all know, the Daxing Palace is low-lying. It is cold in winter and hot and humid in summer. It is not suitable for living. The young people who are strong and healthy are fine, but the older ones are suffering." Yue Shan Dayi said lingeringly:
"That's why I think it is necessary to build a palace for the Supreme Emperor so that he can spend his life there. What do you all think?"

"This..." Everyone's brains were a little overwhelmed, why did it suddenly talk about building a palace for the Supreme Emperor?
Li Shimin was also taken aback, and then gave Yue Shan 1 likes in his heart. This son-in-law is looking for nothing, and he is always thinking about building a palace for his father-in-law.

Yue Shan suggested building a new palace earlier, and Li Shimin was also very tempted, but finally gave up.There is a lot of waste waiting to be done, and there is still a big war with the Turkic people. How can there be that money to build a palace?

Now is indeed a good opportunity. It is great filial piety to build a palace for the Supreme Emperor, and it is great benevolence to give the people a chance to earn money and survive.Such an act of benevolence and filial piety can be done.

But he couldn't make a decision on this matter, otherwise it would be easy for people to misunderstand that he wanted to build a new palace, so although he was very excited, he was very calm on the surface without any fluctuations.

Several ministers were also watching his expression, trying to see something, but in the end they found nothing.

"This... is a good idea, but will building a palace in a catastrophic year cause misunderstanding among the people?" Fang Xuanling hesitated.

"Yeah, I think it's time to think carefully." Others also said.

"No, what I mean is exactly the opposite." No one expected that Du Ruhui stood up and supported him uncharacteristically.

"Everyone, don't think the people are too ignorant. They understand a lot of truths, but no one tells them the truth."

"After the locust plague, the saint's love for the people has won the trust of the people. As long as we tell them the reason for building the new palace, I believe they will understand and support it."

"After all, the food is not so delicious. The people also have their own dignity, and they are also very happy to rely on their labor to earn money to support their families."

Everyone pondered. Du Ruhui is known for his good judgment. He has said this, which means that there is room for manipulation in this matter.

Moreover, they were not really opposed to work-for-relief, but simply felt that the imperial court was building a palace in a catastrophic year, which would easily stigmatize the emperor.

Speaking of it, it is also for Li Shimin's own reputation, not selfish.

"Everyone, think about how many refugees there will be in Guanzhong, and how many people will be needed to build a new palace. I'm afraid you will think that the palace is not luxurious enough to accommodate more workers, and you won't feel that building a new palace is too expensive. The palace is luxurious." Yue Shan laughed.

Hearing the words, everyone became thoughtful, yes, the locust plague combined with the drought, millions of people in Guanzhong were affected by the disaster, and at least tens of thousands of people lost their livelihood.

It's not that these 10 people can starve to death, but a large number of people have to sell land and children to survive.

But what will happen to the people who have lost their land?They can only be reduced to tenant farmers, and they can't help themselves from now on. This is exactly the situation that the court is trying to avoid.

How many workers does it take to build a palace?It's over [-].

It is extravagant to use 10 people to build a palace in a normal year, but in a catastrophic year, under the situation of using work for relief... everyone will only think that this number is small.

After figuring this out, the ministers had no objection to building the palace, and expressed their agreement one after another.

"In addition to building palaces, I suggest digging a large number of ditches and building roads in the Guanzhong area, so that more people can have jobs, so that work relief can benefit more victims." Fang Xuanling said.

"This method is indeed feasible, and I second it." Others also agreed.

Li Shimin was very happy in his heart, the new palace was finally built, but he remained calm on the face, and said: "Since all the ministers think this method is feasible, let's do it."

The meeting ended, and everyone went home to do their own work.

Originally, Yue Shan wanted to go to the harem to meet Li Lizhi, but considering the hot weather recently, he turned back halfway.

There are still three years, and these days are really difficult.Ahem... Yue Shan left the palace solemnly and returned to the Marquis's Mansion.

At the court meeting the next day, the court made several decisions one after another.

Appoint Li Ji as the governor of Bingzhou and Chai Shao as the governor of Jinhe to prevent the Turks from taking advantage of the disaster in the country.

Relief with work, a large number of roads and ditches were built in Guanzhong, and victims of disasters were hired to work at high prices.

By the way, considering the hot summer in Daxing Palace, the imperial court decided to build a new palace for the sake of the emperor's health and in response to the policy of working for relief.

The successive big actions made the officials a little bit unacceptable, but seeing that the prime ministers and core important officials all agreed, everyone knew that this matter was a foregone conclusion, so they all chose to remain silent.

These policies were successfully promulgated.

The next step is the overall planning and implementation. Roads can’t be built whenever they want, and rivers and canals can’t be dug whenever they want. Professionals must determine how to repair and how to dig.

Therefore, all relevant departments are mobilized to provide food-for-work services.

There is also the matter of the new palace. In fact, Li Shimin had already conducted investigations and preparations in private before, and based on this, he quickly determined a rough plan.

For example, the new palace was built on Longshouyuan, which was originally a royal garden, avoiding troubles such as demolition.It is also close to Daxing Palace, so it is very convenient to travel.

As for the scale of the new palace, it should be as grand as possible while taking into account the use of work in lieu of relief.

In short, after busy planning and Yue Shan's guidance, the original prototype of the Daming Palace in history gradually appeared on the design drawings.As for more details, he doesn't know, so he can only leave it to the designers to design.

The folks are also very supportive of the work-for-relief plan, and countless people are looking forward to it, hoping that these projects will start as soon as possible.

There are wages to earn, dried locusts to sell for money, and cheap locust rice. This disaster year may really be as the court said, and no one will starve to death.

In general, after such a toss by Li Shimin and Yue Shan, the locust plague that should have been turned upside down was resolved in this way.

Although the plague of locusts and severe drought were still raging in Guanzhong, everyone from the princes and generals down to ordinary people remained calm and did not panic at all.

This is also rare in history.

Li Shimin's personal prestige once again reached a small peak.

Originally, he wanted to announce Li Tai and Yue Shui'er's marriage, but was stopped by his eldest grandson Wugou.Elder brother Li Chengqian is not engaged yet, and you, the younger brother, got married first, which is not in good manners.

As soon as Yue Shan thought about this reason, he agreed to delay the time of bestowing the marriage.

As for Li Chengqian's marriage, it's really not his turn to cheat.The future queen of the crown prince can only be found by Li Shimin and his eldest grandson Wugou personally.

Yue Shan heaved a sigh of relief after taking care of his public and private affairs. He was about to go home and rest for a few days when a message came.

The interns from the academy who went to Lingnan are back.

　Recently, the explosion has run out of conceived plots, and I need to carefully conceive how to write it later.

　　Well, don't worry, don't ask for leave, and update as usual tomorrow.

　　Ask for votes again.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)