Xu Fenglei paused for a moment and said:
"Your Majesty, we need to prepare early."
Li Shimin hummed.
To be honest, he is in a bad mood now.
In the first year after taking office, he encountered a "quasi-disaster year", which would make any monarch feel unhappy.
But Li Er is Li Er after all. After only being depressed for a short time, he immediately raised his head.
"The matter has come to this, and there is no point in complaining."
He sighed softly,
"Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, there have been many disasters. In the second year of Wude, the fifth year of Wude, the seventh year of Wude, and the eighth year of Wude, there were either natural disasters or man-made disasters. I am in charge of the Shangshu Province and report them every year. The number of victims is countless.”
"People say that my father is incompetent in governing the country. I am not trying to defend him. The main reason is that God is really unwilling to send blessings. Let us take a breather!"
"got used to……"
When all the ministers heard this, they were silent.
"Your Majesty, there is no need to worry. It will only be difficult for these few years."
Xu Fenglei smiled and said,
"Once we get through it, everything will be smooth sailing."
"Of course, I still adhere to Xunzi's theory. The laws of nature are always consistent. They will not survive for Yao, nor will they perish for Jie."
"Whether it's a natural disaster or not, it has nothing to do with your Majesty's personal morality. You don't need to have too much of a burden in your heart."
Li Shimin raised his eyebrows slightly when he heard this.
"several years?"
he asked,
"How long is it exactly? Two years is also a few years, and nine years is also a few years!"
"If you tell me everything, I'll know what's going on."
"Haha..." Xu Fenglei laughed dumbly, shook his head and said, "Your Majesty is joking, how can I have such great ability to predict the celestial phenomena? You should calm down and focus on the present. Good weather may not be a good thing. You need to know that blessings come with disasters. Wherever you rely, misfortunes and blessings lie behind you.”
A warming climate is indeed a good thing, but at the same time, the powerful "Tubo" empire will also be nurtured and manifested, becoming a strong competitor to the Tang Dynasty.
"Ahem...okay."
Li Shimin coughed dryly, turned his gaze to Fang Xuanling and other ministers, and said helplessly,
"It seems that this first year of the Zhenguan Dynasty requires all your beloved ministers and me to work extra hard to manage it."
"According to Ting Ming, drought and locust plagues seem inevitable... How should we start to prevent them? I would like to hear your opinions."
On the first day of the first lunar month, the excitement of the New Year has not yet passed, and my thoughts are already focused on governing the country again.
"Your Majesty, I think we should proceed in two steps."
Fang Xuanling pondered for a moment and said,
"First, immediately after the New Year, officials are dispatched to inspect granaries all over the world to check the grain stocks in preparation for emergencies."
"Secondly, money should be drawn from the national treasury to slowly purchase grain from wealthy landlords to replenish supplies. In this way, if there is a disaster, unscrupulous traders can be prevented from driving up grain prices and torturing the people to the greatest extent."
Li Shimin nodded repeatedly.
"rational."
He said,
"In times of major disasters, it is often not natural disasters that kill people, but man-made disasters."
"After the food that was originally sufficient was maliciously hoarded and exorbitant by unscrupulous traders, it was no longer available to the people."
Xu Fenglei also nodded.
"I heard a theory once."
He said in a deep voice,
"When it is said that there is a 10% shortage of food, the price of food does not increase by 10%, but continues to increase until 10% of people starve to death."
"It may not be completely correct, but it is enough to illustrate the importance of preparing food for shortages."
"As the saying goes, if you have food in your hand, you won't panic in your heart. If the court can give confidence to the people, then all kinds of malicious hoarding and extortion will dissipate, and those profiteers will pay the price for their greed."
"I agree with the Prime Minister's policy."
All the ministers also nodded.
"Then it's settled. After the Lantern Festival, these two matters will be left to Fang Aiqing."
Li Shimin also agreed,
"Especially to inspect the granaries in various places, smart officials must be dispatched."
"I don't want to hear reports of a fire in the granary."
When all the ministers heard the words, they all understood it with their hearts.
After all, Your Majesty has worked hard all the way, and he understands the tricky things below.
"I originally came here to listen to Ming and chat a little bit, but since we are talking about government affairs and you are all here, let's treat this as a political hall and just talk more."
Li Shimin took a sip of tea and sighed,
"This celestial phenomenon is really extreme. We have a mild winter, but it's snowing heavily in Turks."
"I just received a report from the Beihu scouts. A blizzard broke out on the grassland. Thousands of cattle, sheep and horses froze to death. Some small tribes perished directly in the blizzard!"
"You have to respect nature! A snowstorm is better than thousands of troops!"
Changsun Wuji couldn't help but frowned when he heard this.
"So... Jieli Khan is having a hard time."
He murmured,
"Last year, he launched an army to attack the Tang Dynasty. He spent a lot of resources but failed. His prestige was greatly reduced and his vitality was seriously damaged. The Turks are no longer monolithic."
"Now that there's another blizzard raging, will he think of violating our border again?"
"After all, robbing houses and plundering resources on the border is his specialty. The Turkic cavalry moves quickly, and the border garrison can't do anything to them..."
"It's possible." Cheng Yaojin snorted, "Turkish dogs, when supplies are scarce, they want to go south to plunder the Tang Dynasty! After what happened last year, I guess he won't dare to make big moves, but small moves It must continue!”
However, it was these small actions that caused the most headache for the court.
Don't fight him, he is like a mouse, annoying you every day, and even stealing your family's tribute.
Just hit him, he is as nimble as a fly, you can't catch him, you can't kill him by swatting him, it will make him miserable!
"I think the Turks will make small moves against the Tang Dynasty, but they should gradually decrease."
Xu Fenglei said suddenly.
"oh?"
Li Shimin looked at him and said in surprise,
"How to say?"
He agreed more with Cheng Yaojin's remarks, so he was curious about Xu Fenglei's words.
"Nothing else, he has too much time to take care of himself."
Xu Fenglei said calmly,
"In the next few years, the climate in the Tang Dynasty will be bad, but the weather in the north will be even worse! Life for the Turks will be difficult, and there will naturally be internal conflicts! And the finger of blame will naturally be pointed at Jieli Khan, whose majesty has been damaged! "
"I think the conflict between Jieli Khan and Turkic Khan will intensify, and they will definitely be at odds with each other!"
"The ninth surname Tiele will not be willing to be a slave and a maid, and he will probably find an opportunity to rebel against the Turks. The Khitans to the east of the Turks are also not easy to save fuel. If the time comes, they will definitely be ready to make a move."
"In the next two years, our lives may be difficult, but the Turks... will be in chaos!"
Li Shimin: "?!"
Oh my god, is there any unexpected gain? ! Originally I just wanted to discuss defense matters, but Xu Fenglei's analysis made Li Shimin, who was full of war talent, think of two words -
attack!
Take advantage of his illness and kill him!
(End of chapter)
